Climate impact of WWTP
Wastewater treatment plants are among our societies' biggest energy consumers and have a significant carbon footprint. Continuous efforts are bringing the treatment plants closer to energy neutrality, but often, there is potential to do even more. In addition to energy optimization, direct greenhouse gas emissions must also be under control. Nitrous oxide and methane can constitute an essential part of the carbon footprint in wastewater treatment plants, and efforts are needed to mitigate them efficiently.
Project on measuring method for the design and control of aeration in WWTPs.
At present, the amount of air supplied to the aeration of a wastewater treatment plant is generally controlled based on only one oxygen measurement. The aim is to supply air only to the extent that the microbes need it. However, the need for oxygen varies dynamically depending on the flow and load situation in different parts of the basin. The current control method easily leads to over-aeration sometimes in some parts of the basin, as the oxygen setpoint has been retrieved based on the quality of the leaving water. In order to ensure the optimal location of the oxygen sensors regulating airflow and the quality of the outgoing water, but at the same time to minimize the air volume, oxygen measurements are required from different parts of the pool under different load situations. In this project, we develop a controllable underwater measurement method that can be used to measure dissolved oxygen concentrations in a wastewater pool combined with location and time information. Based on the measured data, an artificial intelligence model is created to determine the correlations of the concentration differences. Based on the model, an energy-efficient control method for aeration is designed.
Contact person:
Petri Ukkonen
[email protected]
Project on linking microbial population to N2O.
The goal of this project is to develop the “Finnish gene map for the nutrient removal process” that will allow the application of molecular analytical methods in process operation and control and further reveal the specificities of the Finnish processes. Biological processes used in wastewater treatment are complex systems where different groups of microbes form communities. These communities have advanced interactions between the groups of microbes. The baseline community of a “healthy” process must be determined first in order to test different applications of using molecular biology information in process operations. HSY’s Viikinmäki WWTP in Helsinki offers a unique environment to study N2O emissions, because online monitoring of GHG emissions has been carried out at the plant since 2012. In addition, Viikinmäki has suffered from nitrogen removal disturbances in the recent years. Nitrogen removal optimization and N2O mitigation based on the new microbial community data and process monitoring data collected at the WWTP will be tested in this project.
Contact person:
Oona Kinnunen
[email protected]
The CIS-Fin project aims to generate critically needed data regarding GHG emissions from Finnish centralized WWTPs and to produce first-hand knowledge on GHG emissions from decentralized small-scale and on-site wastewater treatment systems. Furthermore, the project will also bring about novel information on wastewater related GHG emissions occurring in the immediate area where wastewater treatment facilities discharge their effluent (water body or soil). Model development for GHG emission is included. The model will allow emission predictions in the Finnish conditions and testing of different mitigation strategies.
Contact person:
Milla Sieranen
[email protected]
Digital twin in optimization of wastewater treatment’s carbon balance.
The main objective of this project is to establish a digital replica of the wastewater treatment plant processes in Helsinki, with the goal of enhancing proactive process operation. The resulting digital twin is designed to generate ongoing predictive scenarios, with the ultimate aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions (such as nitrous oxide), minimizing energy consumption, and maintaining high-efficiency effluent quality standards. More information can be obtained from the project page below.
Contact person:
Ksenija Golovko
[email protected]
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