There’s a way to solve challenges in water treatment plants before they arise!
A number of factors are turning wastewater management into a complex operation. On one side, India faces a growing water crisis, and the need to improve the availability of water is urgent. On the other side, growing water pollution entails the need for the implementation of stringent quality standards for discharge water. In this situation, a responsible business must deploy a wastewater treatment plant.
However, operating a wastewater treatment plant entails challenges
Ensuring efficiency at the lowest possible OPEX
Complying with stringent water quality norms
Maintaining consistent performance in line with standards over a long timespan to avoid being penalized
Quickly detecting and repairing the faults in sewage or wastewater treatment systems.
Amidst the increasing strain on water resources, modern businesses must ensure improved water availability and quality in the most economical manner.
The answer to these challenges lies in digital technology; more specifically, digital twinning.
What is a digital twin?
A digital twin is a virtual copy of the physical sewage treatment or water treatment system. This virual model is then fed with GIS data and operational data from SCADA and other digital systems of the STP. This creates a complete virtual representation of the sewage treatment plant.
A key difference between digital twin and a 3D model is that the digital twin continuously monitors and simulates the physical plant’s operation in the digital realm.
What the digital twin does in water treatment systems
Pre-construction
Digital twins are used to support the planning, design, construction, and day-to-day operations of the sewage water treatment plants. In the design stage, the digital twin can simulate the operations of the upcoming plant, helping ensure that the plant is built to function as per the desired standards and requirements.
Post-deployment
After the plant is made operational, its operational data is continuously fed to the digital twin, which mimics the operations of the actual plant. This enables the operators to detect problems quickly. Further on, businesses can use the digital twin to conduct a ‘what-if analysis to gauge the impact of increased production on the STP. Then, the STP capacity could be increased accordingly.
Conclusion
Digital twin enables businesses to predict the STP’s performance and identify faults before they occur. Digital twins can be a key asset in risk-emergency preparedness. Rather than wait for the sensor data to come in, the operator can now simulate future operations and move to pro-active data-driven maintenance of the plant, saving time and costs spent on maintenance.
Digital twinning is a part of the wider digitalization and automation that is currently transforming water treatment in India. To learn about how the digitalization of water treatment systems can help your business, explore our blog here.