How Digital technologies can help to reduce carbon emissions ? The concrete example of Milano Nosedo WWTP
Tuesday, November 14 at 9 AM
Presented by: David Pearce, Business Development Director Municipal Ontario, Canada
Sheraton Fallsview, Niagara Falls, ON
Nosedo is the main wastewater treatment plant in Milan, Italy. It has a total capacity of 1,250,000 population equivalent and makes circular use of wastewater. It is one of the largest wastewater treatment plants in Europe, having the possibility to reuse all its effluent for agricultural purposes. The Plant was looking for an advanced solution to tackle the following challenges: reduce specific energy consumption, maintain high and stable effluent quality at all times, increase biological phosphorus removal, avoid sludge escape during wet weather events, improve the operational management of the settling phase, better handling of the biological load variations, reduce chemicals consumption. After thorough review of existing optimization, Nosedo waste water treatment plant decided to implement a Digital twin based optimization platform. The proposed digital twin solution included automated real-time performance optimization and capacity enhancement of the wastewater treatment plant.The solution autonomously simulates scenario options before actioning the one providing the best possible outcome in the real world, leveraging advanced algorithms, providing stable operation and compliance with regulatory requirements. Following implementation of the cloud-based optimization solution, the wastewater treatment plant was able to reduce its carbon footprint by approximately 1,200 tons of CO2, corresponding to a 27% reduction of emissions from energy consumption in biology and from chemicals for P-precipitation, reduce by 25% its energy consumption in the biology, reduce by over 65% its chemical consumption related to P-precipitation and reduce its chemical sludge disposal while improving compliance. This innovative project is a typical example of how we can “do more with less”. It highlights how digital and smart solutions go hand in hand with sustainability and resiliency.