Technical article
wlb UMWELTTECHNIK 2/2018
Energy management uncovers hidden potential
Wastewater treatment plants are real energy guzzlers. With software-supported energy management, operators can save time and money. We spoke to Christian Fink from Flowchief GmbH about the e-Gem software.
Mr. Fink, the energy consumption of wastewater treatment plants is a significant cost factor for operators. How can you assess the efficiency of your plant?
In fact, wastewater treatment plants are real energy guzzlers. At 25 to 50 percent, wastewater treatment accounts for a large proportion of total energy costs. A simple energy check provides an initial impression of the efficiency of the entire plant. The first step is to determine the specific energy consumption by relating the annual energy consumption to the volume of wastewater produced and the population equivalent of the wastewater treatment plant. If no meaningful measured values are available, the supplier’s calculation can be used; the DWA has published a worksheet (A-216) with characteristic values for different plant sizes. If the energy consumption exceeds the national average values, this indicates potential savings in the system. The individual system components, such as aeration or pumping stations, can be checked accordingly. At best, the total annual energy consumption of the individual system components can be obtained from existing software such as a Scada system or an operating logbook, otherwise the measurement must be carried out manually.
What are the benefits of software-supported energy management?
Simply put, Flowchief energy management software saves you time and money because e-Gem takes care of many tasks for you, from energy recording to evaluation. Consumption data is automatically read out from the existing measurement technology or Scada systems. If system components do not have their own measurement data acquisition, the consumption data can either be entered via a smartphone app or measuring devices can be retrofitted. Parallel to the consumption data, e-Gem also records other measured values such as weather data and levels or laboratory values such as feed and discharge loads – seamlessly and transparently. e-Gem uses all this data to automatically generate key energy figures such as the specific total power consumption. This measurement data and key figures can be continuously analyzed using integrated functions such as dashboards, curves or reports. The database obtained is a valuable basis for deriving energy-saving measures and checking their effectiveness. You also receive your consumption data and key figures virtually in real time. With manual analysis, you can create key figures for months at best. E-Gem also allows you to analyze all data on a minute, hourly or daily basis.
