26 de febrero de 2024
Deshidratación de aguas residuales a un nivel superior
Las plantas de tratamiento de aguas residuales son esenciales para nuestra vida moderna. Pero, ¿cómo se puede avanzar y mejorar continuamente su funcionamiento? Lo que durante mucho tiempo fue un reto en términos de optimización se ha conseguido ahora: un control automático de decantadores para la deshidratación de lodos. La solución inteligente de GEA Intellicant maneja estos decantadores mejor de lo que antes podían hacerlo los humanos. Christian Schramm, jefe comercial de Productos Digitales de GEA, nos contó más sobre todo el potencial de estas máquinas inteligentes en una entrevista.
“¡Démosle un toque inteligente a su decantador!” Esto es lo que GEA Intellicant ofrece a los operadores de plantas de tratamiento de aguas residuales de todo el mundo. Nuestro entrevistado, Christan Schramm, forma parte del equipo de desarrollo desde hace unos dos años.
Sr. Schramm: GEA Intellicant, ¿qué es?
GEA Intellicant es un sistema inteligente que supervisa los decantadores para la deshidratación de lodos de depuradora y los optimiza automáticamente basándose en los datos que recoge. Y lo hace en tiempo real y de forma continua. Con este sistema, el decantador funciona automáticamente a su nivel óptimo en todo momento. Para los operadores de plantas de tratamiento de aguas residuales, esto significa mayores valores de sustancia seca, menores costes, menos esfuerzo y un proceso más seguro.Will GEA Intellicant be the breakthrough in the automation of decanters in wastewater treatment plants?
There have been attempts to automatically optimize decanters, but the principle stands and falls with the quality of the sensor data and the ability to analyze the process parameters continuously in real time and reliably over the long term. And it is only now that sensor technology is ready. But as important as sensor technology is, it won't work without process expertise. After all, the key question is: How to interpret the sensor data? How can decanters be optimally adjusted? This crucial process intelligence now comes from GEA – and Intellicant uses it to make GEA decanters in wastewater treatment plants more intelligent. Hence the name Intellicant.Where is Intellicant today and who is behind it?
For around two years now, I have been part of the team that launched the Intellicant project in mid-2021. Our Intellicant team in Oelde, Germany, works closely with the Automation and Smart Services and Process Technology & Innovation departments. With success – while the smart system is already proving itself at a plant in Germany, it is currently being commissioned in another plant in Denmark. Other countries and wastewater treatment plants will follow.What was the core problem behind the development?
The product that is fed into the decanter is subject to permanent changes, for example the parameters of temperature, rain, even major events, but also the kind of local industry all have an influence on the composition of sewage sludge. The decanter must therefore be constantly adjusted in order to work at the optimum operating point. Today, this is handled by taking several samples a day to check the most important value: the dry substance of the so-called solids. However, the value is only available after half an hour. If the sample shows that the decanter settings need to be adjusted, this time has unfortunately already been lost from an economic point of view. GEA Intellicant checks the important parameters permanently, with real-time monitoring of the process – every second is virtually a data point.“Si nos fijamos, por ejemplo, en las plantas de tratamiento de aguas residuales de tamaño medio, un 1% más de materia seca puede suponer un ahorro de hasta 60.000 euros al año”.
Christian Schramm
jefe comercial de Productos Digitales, GEA
Así es como GEA Intellicant mantiene el decantador en su punto óptimo de funcionamiento: Tres tipos de sensores miden los datos relevantes del proceso y el software VO evalúa los datos directamente, y controla el decantador para obtener un rendimiento óptimo.
¿Cómo gestiona GEA Intellicant la supervisión en tiempo real?
Intellicant consta de un paquete de sensores y un software: el “Operador Virtual”. El paquete de sensores controla en tiempo real tres parámetros críticos del proceso: la concentración de sólidos de la alimentación, la turbidez del resultante y la materia seca de los sólidos. Estos datos de los sensores se transmiten al operador virtual por una conexión de red local. Está integrado en el sistema de control del decantador y reacciona de forma automática e inteligente a los datos entrantes.What does this mean as a result – how can a decanter in wastewater treatment plants lower costs?
Decanters play an important role in the final step, dewatering. Here, decanter centrifuges are used to remove as much water as possible from the sewage sludge. In many cases, what remains has to be disposed of as hazardous waste in mono-incineration plants. For every ton that leaves the plant, up to 150 euros have to be paid in disposal costs, depending on country and respective plant. The lower the water content, the lower the weight, the lower the costs. An automatically optimally operated decanter therefore not only saves work but also money. Even 1% more dry matter makes a big difference: After dewatering by centrifuge, the dry substance of the filter cake is usually around 25%. If I can increase this 25% by just one percentage point to 26%, this means annual savings of 35,000 to 60,000 euros in disposal costs for a medium-sized wastewater treatment plant – pure disposal costs.
To make this completely transparent for our customers, we provide them with a monthly report. This shows them what the operation of their decanter with GEA Intellicant achieves in terms of process performance and costs. They can also identify influencing factors in this diagram, such as internal process modifications which required a decanter shutdown or rainy days.
“Cuesta mucho más que un decantador no funcione de forma óptima durante un cierto periodo de tiempo, que adquirir GEA Intellicant”.
Christian Schramm
jefe comercial de Productos Digitales, GEA
GEA Intellicant ofrece a sus clientes un aumento medio de la materia seca de al menos un 1%. El rendimiento se pone a disposición de los clientes de forma transparente mediante un informe mensual.
¿Cuánto tarda en amortizarse GEA Intellicant?
El primer paso consiste en actualizar el decantador GEA existente. Los costes del paquete de sensores, la instalación y la puesta en marcha inicial varían en función de la complejidad y los requisitos de los sensores. Sin embargo, en la mayoría de casos estas inversiones pueden amortizarse en el primer año tras la puesta en marcha del sistema. Otros efectos, como la importante reducción de la carga de trabajo del personal, ni siquiera se tienen en cuenta.Why is GEA Intellicant also an effective means of combating shortage of skilled workers?
Unfortunately, personnel who know the process and can really operate decanters are becoming increasingly scarce. Due to the shortage of personnel, these rare specialists are not only working at the decanter but have also a lot of other important tasks inside the plant. This can easily lead to staff shortages – but these can be significantly eased with GEA Intellicant.
I would like to cite an example here from one of our customers: One of two operators was absent for several weeks. The remaining operator was very happy to be able to switch on our smart system and know that it was working. OK, that's how it works for now. During this time, GEA Intellicant was a considerable relief in the daily work of the remaining operator. But even after that – with full staffing levels – GEA Intellicant provided real relief. Over a short period of a few months, the utilization rate of GEA Intellicant was increased to 100%. Today, this customer runs his decanter exclusively with the Virtual Operator – a success that makes us happy.
