Digital twin in integrated sanitation system management

Aalto University

Water and wastewater treatment are basic necessities in our welfare societies safeguarding health and prosperity by providing key assets for many services and industries as well as protecting the environment. The main focus of the wastewater treatment has been to meet the effluent requirements specified by the environmental permit while operating the process in a cost-effective manner. Recently, ambitious goals for climate impact mitigation have been set in country, municipality and water utility level. This has led to a new focus in plant operation towards climate impact mitigation and offset benefits. Digital solutions are needed in order to efficiently link the information collected from the urban water management system to the process optimization.

The planned work is to enlarge the on-going development of wastewater treatment plant digital twin to include the network and the receiving water. The developed integrated digital twin can be used to assess the impact of changes in the climate hydrology and develop solutions for the integrated system management. The renewal of the EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive brings more stringent requirements for both wastewater treatment and energy optimization. The goal of this project is to enhance the benefits of digitalization for an overall optimization of the sanitation system. The project has links to urban water management (energy optimization, GHG emission mitigation, effluent control) and it will be carried out in close collaboration with water utilities companies offering solutions for process control and automation, network and process modelling as well as instrumentation.

Tasks 1.3, 4.2 and 4.3

Urban water systems, modelling, management

The applicant is expected to have a master’s degree on water/environmental engineering, civil engineering, process engineering or related field. The position requires good teamwork skills and self-management. The applicant should have experience in network and/or process modelling (preferred platforms Fluidit/Sumo/Simulink), model development and application, as well as data management and analysis. Previous experience from working with urban water system design or operation is an asset.

HSY

Water and Environmental Engineering / Department of Built Environment / School of Engineering / Aalto University

Prof. Anna Mikola

PoP Henri Haimi

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HSY Kristian Sahlstedt