Enabling sustainable reuse with real-time optimization

The need to put sustainability front and center for water-heavy industries is increasingly being recognized by regulatory authorities, as well. Late last month the United States (US) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a development to the National Water Reuse Action Plan (WRAP).

Alongside the core sustainability business imperative, operators of water and water resource recovery facilities across a range of sectors face an array of additional commercial challenges. These include the need to reduce operational costs and capital expenditures, while increasing efficiency, reducing maintenance and downtime, as well as minimizing non-compliance events and regulatory...

So, what do these growing markets mean for facility owners and operators?

An example of successful use of digital optimization tooling comes from BlueKolding A/S, formerly Kolding Wastewater. A utility company that covers the entire Denmark seaport municipality of Kolding, BlueKolding treats the wastewater from the 100,000 residents. Of the total water treated, some 12 million m3 per day (8.7 million gallons per day [MGD]) is processed at the Agtrup central...

In 2017, the AQUAVISTA Plant platform was adopted to provide integrated optimization of Agtrup, the three satellite reuse facilities, and the sewer network for the City of Kolding.

Alongside conventional municipal water resource recovery facilities, such as those at BlueKolding, digital optimization tools are also yielding results for other sectors that potentially rely on water reuse.

Aude Giard is the chief digital officer of Veolia Water Tech-nologies, headquartered in Paris, France.