A digital platform that can help wastewater utilities manage aeration and chemical use — which will in turn help significantly reduce energy use — is being offered by Xylem.
The water technology company says the system can monitor wastewater operations to improve nutrient removal, save energy and reduce costs. The platform incorporates data to provide up-to-date recommendations that conventional activated sludge plants can analyze to optimize the use of chemicals and aeration that will result in cutting energy use by up to 25%, Xylem says.
Aeration, which is a process that dissolves gases and reduces volatile organic compounds, is the most energy intensive part of wastewater treatment, according to ScienceDirect. It accounts for 50% to 60% of a wastewater plant’s energy use, and the publication says aeration control is significant to realizing energy reduction and efficiency in the process.
Smart systems, which are being widely used to improve energy efficiency throughout industries, can help provide that optimization. Xylem says by improving energy efficiency alone, water utilities could help cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 50%.
The Xylem platform, called Edge Control, has four elements that address aeration, ammonia removal, ammonia and nitrogen removal, and a platform that controls chemical feed pumps. It can be connected to the cloud and provides data that shows monthly energy savings, real-time trends with details such as ammonia concentrations, and potential operational disruptions, thereby improving efficiency.
The system, which has been field tested across North America, can prevent over-aeration at treatment plants and provide adequate mixing that will result in energy savings, Xylem says. The ammonia removal tool helps determine a facility’s ammonia and nitrogen target, which limits nutrient discharge and stabilizes the biological processes of wastewater treatment.
Schneider Electric says wastewater treatment facilities in the US spend up to $2 billion on electric costs each year; the company also has an automation software to help improve energy efficiency for the plants. Boosted by new technologies for energy efficiency, the industrial wastewater treatment market was estimated to be valued at $77.6 billion by 2027, according to Meticulous Research.
Water utilities also account for around 2% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Global Infrastructure Hub says nitrous oxide from wastewater handling contributes more than a quarter of the total greenhouse gas emissions to the water supply chain, and smart systems and other monitoring technologies can greatly reduce or eliminate such emissions.
The Xylem system can provide nitrite shunt and reduce total inorganic nitrogen concentration by 30%, according to the company.
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