A digital twin to support wastewater treatment operations

5. August 2024

Solution provider

Solving the world’s water challenges is not easy. But it is a challenge we take on every day. DHI is a digitally-enabled advisory company working with water in all its forms.

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Photo credit: DHI

Challenge

Gruppo CAP has implemented DHI’s TwinPlant at the Bresso-Niguarda wastewater treatment plant located near Milano, Italy. This is part of a digitalisation plan aimed at optimising operations through real-time data and advanced process modelling. TwinPlant integrates online sensors and process models, allowing continuous evaluation of performance and identification of strategies to improve efficiency, energy use and resource recovery.

Solution

DHI’s MIKE OPERATIONS platform collects, stores and validates sensor data, while a plant-wide WEST model, another DHI technology, describes treatment processes and estimates energy balance. The graphical dashboard offers access to measurements, simulation results and comparisons of operational strategies using customised KPIs. TwinPlant predicts plant performance in real-time, enabling operators to test and evaluate conditions and strategies in a virtual environment.

Result

Results have included fast integration of online data and process models, identification of optimal operational strategies through scenario analysis and a user-friendly dashboard that supports scenario execution and displays KPIs. This helps operators visualise operations against model predictions, implement strategies through SCADA and verify system performance, enhancing overall performance.