Digital Twin technology to optimise the operation of drinking water treatment plants

DrinkIA – Digital Twin® technology is a decision support system developed by researchers of the University of Girona in order to optimize drinking water treatment plants' operation from an integrated approach and to address the main demographic, climate, and health challenges of their management.

Innovative aspects and competitive advantages

• DrinKIA-Digital Twin® extracts data from an online data acquisition system and allows the user to edit the values to assess different treatment scenarios.
• Modular system that can be adapted to different types of facilities.
• Experimental knowledge module to mitigate the formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs) by means of profuse characterization of natural organic matter (NOM) with PLC
• chromatography and UV-VIS spectroscopy.
• Data-based modules to predict chemical dosage, formation of trihalomethanes, and filter management.
• Expert knowledge-based modules to predict the dosage of disinfectants and coagulants,
• Microbiologic risk and water distribution management.

Benefits for drinking water treatment plants

• Increases the capacity of DWTPs' users through modeling and production tools.
• Improves the understanding of processes through treatment scenarios.
• Quantifies risks and consequences of some actions in the formation of disinfectant byproducts
• and microbiological risk.
• Real-time decision support system to deal with variations in inlet water quality.
• Increases the autonomy of shift work operators', especially outside office work time.
• Increases the system's resiliency to changes and upheavals.
• Reduces costs linked to bad decisions.

You can download the flyer and extended dossier.