New iron salt deployment system enhances urban wastewater management
Improving the management of integrated urban wastewater systems (UWSs) is important in fulfilling the requirement of the EU Water Framework Directive, and will continue to enhance both the health and the quality of life of European citizens through the 21st century. Adding iron salts into UWSs has a number of benefits, including preventing bad odours in sewers, and helping to remove phosphorus from wastewater treatment bioreactors, which can lower the harmful effects of eutrophication. “In recent decades, increased awareness about the negative impact of eutrophication on the quality of water bodies, and advances in environmental technology, have given rise to more stringent wastewater treatment regulations and cost control, as shown in EU policy,” says Yiqi Liu, associate professor at the South China University of Technology and coordinator of the OPTIUWS project. OPTIUWS, which was undertaken with the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, developed a way of harnessing iron salts to help remove hydrogen sulphide. Along with environmental benefits, hydrogen sulphide also leads to corrosion in water systems. Estimates suggest that in the United States alone, this leads to around USD 14 billion in damages each year. “Iron salts dosage is one of the innovative solutions able to prevent corrosion and odour control in sewers and maximise phosphorus removal in wastewater treatment bioreactors and hydrogen sulphide removal from biogas in an anaerobic digester,” Lui explains.
A new way to deploy iron salts
The OPTIUWS framework assists in system-wide decision-making, based on algorithms and software developed specifically for UWS management. OPTIUWS. OPTIUWS is a software-based system that builds on innovative soft-sensor modelling, fault management frameworks and technologies that control system-wide dosage of iron salts. Monitoring the application of iron salts will substantially reduce the use of chemicals in UWSs and could deliver large economic and environmental benefits to urban water utilities. “This project will raise awareness about the latest trends in system-wide wastewater treatment system management research, and its benefits for people’s health,” remarks Liu.
Validation of the new software
The algorithms, developed during the OPTIUWS, project will be disseminated, implemented and validated further by Chinese companies over the next two years. This will promote UWS in both the EU and China, helping both regions meet different criteria for water management, including effluent quality, operational cost and the production of hydrogen sulphide. It will also help with gathering data on potential energy or nutrient recovery from wastewater systems, for environmental and economic analyses. The software developed in OPTIUWS will be freely available to leverage scientific discussion and knowledge exchange too, Liu adds. “The chances of discovering yet unknown interactions resulting from iron salts, across all wastewater system units, is high,” he explains.
Integrating OPTIUWS into wastewater management
The OPTIUWS team intends to collaborate with EU and Chinese governments as well as private companies, to promote cooperation and reshape the existing decision-making systems. This will support wastewater management in both Europe and China. Liu is grateful that the OPTIUWS project provided him with an opportunity to implement a multidisciplinary research project in environmental modelling, machine learning and control engineering. “Long-term collaboration between the European dimension and the world is also an important result of the OPTIUWS project,” he concludes.
Keywords
OPTIUWS, wastewater, management, system, iron, salts, control, engineering, software, validation
