Wastewater treatment plants

Whether municipal or industrial wastewater, energy-efficient treatment is becoming increasingly important.

What FlowChief can do for you

Most advanced process control technology of FlowChief serves as central intelligence of the entire infrastructure and is the window for the operator into his plants.

  • For high operational safety
  • User-friendly – from visualization to logging
  • For all plant and network sizes
  • Coverage of legal framework conditions (e.g. ITSiG)
  • For the energetic optimisation of all plants and processes
What FlowChief can do for you

Main applications

In the central waste water treatment plant, the waste water is treated in various process engineering steps and returned to the water cycle. Ensuring error-free operation and complete recording of all process data are mandatory.

  • High operational reliability due to cold and hot standby redundancy
  • Powerful, accurate to the second recording and aggregation of all process data
  • Manual entry of laboratory values on desktop or smartphone app (also offline)
  • Integrated energy management to increase efficiency

Waste water networks ensure the disposal of waste water to the sewage treatment plant. State-of-the-art measurement and control technology in pump stations, lifting structures, level measurement stations or vacuum drainage systems are securely connected to the central control system via remote control technology.

  • Manufacturer-neutral remote control technology based on standard PLC components
  • ATEX certified, energy self-sufficient data loggers
  • Portal solution (Cloud) for the connection of small buildings - SCADA-as-a-Service

Reservoirs and flood plains store large quantities of water and reduce the peak values of flood waves. The recording of water levels serves to inform the population in the event of a crisis and is also important for the analysis of flood events.

  • Remote control technology including path redundancy to secure data transmission even with overloaded mobile radio networks in the event of a crisis
  • Online level monitoring using state-of-the-art web technology including historical values
  • Standby alerting including escalation

Rain spill basins protect the wastewater treatment plant from overloading in the event of heavy rainfall. The basins serve as storage tanks and throttle the outflow in the direction of the wastewater treatment plant. The data collected by measurement and logging are an important basis for settlement planning and research on water discharge during heavy rainfall events. A transmission to public authorities is obligatory in many places.

  • Recording of heavy rainfall events including damming, clarification and basin overflow
  • Rain spill basin logging according to official specifications
  • Cross-communication between buildings for effective management of several rain spill basins
  • ATEX certified data loggers including ultrasonic sensor for level measurement
  • Integrated maintenance and repair management

Technologies 100 % web technology

HTML5 web technology is changing the world of control technology. Gone are the days of high-maintenance workplace installations with limited ease of use and ongoing incompatibilities between products or operating systems.

FlowChief is completely designed in pure web technology and, from the very beginning, developed to be applied in the web browser. No matter if control desk, office workstation, mobile notebook, tablet or smartphone, you connect without further installation with your application on the intranet, via the private cloud or securely via the internet. Your FlowChief system is accessible from anywhere in the world and is not limited to pure visualization. For us, 100 per cent web means full functionality in visualization, charts, protocols, alarm or maintenance management.

100 % web technology

IT security

FlowChief is developed for operation in critical infrastructures. We rely on 20 years of experience in the development of secure web applications and remote control technology.

Grafik mit Server Monitor und SPS

5 software features that make FlowChief perfect for use within critical infrastructures:
  1. Certificate-based end-to-end encryption between PLC and head office without root/switch server or implementation via a head-end station
  2. 2-factor authentication based on SMS or mobile app
  3. SSL/TLS-encrypted access from all operating devices
  4. Fine-grained assignment of rights to plants and functions
  5. Password policies

Security through web technology

  • No remote dial-in software into the control technology LAN
  • No client updates compared to proprietary software
  • Easy integration into the IT security infrastructure (firewall, DMZ, IDS, UTM)
  • Free choice of browser
  • State-of-the-art encryption (SSL/TLS, X.509 certificate-based)
  • Integrated security features such as 2-factor authentication and password policies
  • Powerful visualization based on standardized vector graphics (svg)
  • Lossless zooming – no pixelation
  • Easy integration of trends, report lists, chart elements, webcams, maps
  • Zoom level related show and hide of elements
  • Simple object-oriented process image creation without programming knowledge
  • Branch-specific graphics library for the water industry
  • Powerful archiving based on Microsoft SQL Server
  • Archiving of analog and digital data with millisecond accuracy
  • Aggregation and compression to 15-minute, hourly, daily, monthly and annual values
  • Status marking of raw values and compactions - replacement value, faulty, good
  • Free configuration of storage duration for messages, raw values and summarizations
  • Optional outsourcing of archive data to external databases/SQL servers
  • Intelligent alerting platform to ensure maximum system availability
  • Long-term archiving of events and faults
  • Targeted alerting via voice call (also VoIP), SMS, smartphone app or e-mail
  • On-call duty schedules including calendar function, dropping, parallel alarming and escalation via reporting routes
  • Text-to-Speech
  • Simple and compact display of the most important system data
  • Individual arrangement of widgets to display current parameters and archive data
  • Widget elements (e.g. speedometer, bar graph, aggregates, pie charts, X-Y charts, cumulative frequency)
  • Integration of visualization elements, text messages, maps or webcams
  • Unlimited possibilities for creating protocols in FlowChief
  • Integrated designer for creating reports (operational log)
  • Industry-specific analyses and characteristic values (weather keys, freight rates, etc.)
  • Integration of graphical elements such as pie charts, bars, columns, lines, X-Y diagrams or cumulative frequency
  • Flexible export options and fully automated dispatch via e-mail
  • Concise operational management tool for the administration of machines and plants and their accompanying documentation
  • Care of maintenance measures, repairs and precautionary measures to avoid plant downtimes
  • Generation of routing slips and machine life cycles
  • Entering maintenance data via mobile devices
  • Permanent storage of all events – easy-to-read machine life cycles
  • Parallel display of up to 100 data points
  • Auto scaling, X-Y zoom function, export, interactive operation
  • Analysis functions: Display of limit values, min/max values, crosshairs
  • Graphical analysis of digital and analog process data
  • Online archive, time comparison, frequency and scatter diagram
  • Virtual calculation of process values within the hydrographs
  • Extensive formatting: color, diagram type (line, column, area, etc.)
  • Storage of graph combinations
  • Recording of all water quantities, consumption data and substance quantities (electricity, water, chlorine, etc.)
  • Balancing of substance quantity flows within the plant (Sankey diagram and balancing group)
  • Peak load monitoring
  • Formation of energy key figures for the evaluation of plant efficiency (kWh/m³TW, kWh/m³RW)

FlowChief systems can be upgraded at any time to a highly available and fail-safe redundancy solution. This maximization of availability prevents blind flights or data gaps, which can always occur due to network, communication or server hardware failures. FlowChief redundancy is based on Microsoft's failover clustering. All system functions such as browser visualization, communication, archiving, curves, reports or alarm management are still available even in case of failure.

  • Microsoft Failover Cluster (2-X parallel server instances)
  • Redundant communication (OPC, OPC UA, remote control)
  • Cold and hot standby (manual switching or automatic failover)
  • Switching without data loss
  • Automatic comparison of configuration and archive data

FlowChief highlights for the wastewater sector

Operating log

The FlowChief operating diary for sewage treatment plants is a software-based protocol to comply with the operating obligations according to the self-control regulation of the federal states. The FlowChief operating diary is a program from the practice for the practice, clearly and simply operable.

  • Creation of rule-compliant protocols
  • Clear and simple operation
  • Individual implementation based on the local conditions
  • No manufacturer dependency – standalone, FlowChief process control system or other manufacturers
  • Automatic transfer of the data from the control system or alternatively entry of values directly to the operating diary
  • Automatic generation of daily, monthly and annual reports
  • Integration of different forms (measuring program, performance comparison, determination of extraneous water)
  • Logarithmic annual hydrographs
  • Administration of official measurements

Event recording and logging

The integrated event recording of FlowChief is manufacturer-independent for the measurement technology. Buildings can also be monitored without power supply. The acquisition of data in Ex-protected areas is also possible. The acquisition and the creation of protocols run fully automatically within FlowChief. If no own central control technology is available, the buildings can also be connected to a FlowChief portal service for a monthly fee.

  • Recording of start and end of basin damming, clarification overflow and basin overflow
  • Recording variants: external, polenius, current process flow
  • Hydrograph of the impoundment events (level, quantity, current relief or overflow)
  • Event logging
  • Daily, monthly and yearly overview including statistics
  • Diagrams for analysis (time comparison, scatter diagram, heat map)
  • Portal service (Cloud) for the connection of rain overflow basins – without your hardware
  • Automated dispatch of event overviews and logs

Independent data logger

A large variety of Data loggers are offered on the market, but it is essential to have a closer look at these.

  • Battery lifespan up to 10 years (replaceable)
  • Integrated high-performance antenna (shaft installation, reception even with weak mobile network)
  • Guaranteed waterproof (100 days – IP 68 – 1 meter)
  • Free SIM card selection
  • Up to 7 simultaneous external sensors (also from other manufacturers)
  • Communication via HSPA/GPRS, Bluetooth and SMS
  • ATEX certified and therefore suitable for hazardous areas

What our customers say

Since 2006, we have relied on FlowChief for the central process control system. The big advantage of the FlowChief system structure, is the integration of many important functions of our control technology into one software. From visualization and archiving to reporting and maintenance management – up to 15 employees from the control center, specialist workshops and operations management work with the system on a daily basis. Prerequisite for this is the consistent execution in HTML5 web technology. The system is designed as a hot standby redundancy solution – the reliability is also ensured in exceptional situations, such as hardware defects.

Stefan Engelhardt

CEO civic sewage plant Erlangen

When we renewed the telecontrol and process control technology of the sewage treatment plant in 2011, open and modern technology was particularly important to us, as we did not want to become dependent on one manufacturer again. Over the years this decision has paid off: The expectations placed in FlowChief have been more than fulfilled. Our employees have created about 100 process pictures with a lot of heart and soul and have thus created a solution that depicts our entire plant in detail. In addition, together with FlowChief we were also able to implement a solution for recording and recording the delivery processes of our faecal reception.

Jürgen Orth

Jürgen Orth

Plant manager sewage treatment plant Kitzingen

For the control and monitoring of our external buildings we use SPS controls with remote control functionality from FlowChief. All data is buffered safely in case of a connection failure. The stations are connected via GPRS and the data volume is so small that the operation of the stations is absolutely economical. At the moment we are connecting a total of 30 rainwater overflows to FlowChief without our own power supply with ATEX-certified data loggers.

Jürgen Michels

Area Manager Electrical Engineering Wastewater Association Weissach- und Oberes Saalbachtal

As supervisor of a wastewater treatment plant neighbourhood and wastewater master, I need a flexible, powerful tool for evaluating all plant data. With FlowChief I have comprehensive functions at my disposal to evaluate and visualize all data according to my needs. The integrated curve representation is unsurpassed. The process control system is characterized by its intuitive operation, outstanding performance and a very informative display – whether in the high-resolution raw value range or in very long periods of time. In addition to analog data, counters and digital signals are also displayed. I can easily save my curve combinations and open them again if necessary.

Christoph Düpont

Christoph Düpont

Waste water master sewage plant neighbourhood Trier-Saarburg

For almost 40 years we have been active as an internationally successful company in the field of water protection. Together with FlowChief, we have developed the bgu teleservice, which offers municipalities a modern portal solution with all the necessary services for monitoring their structures: From the visualization over standby alarming up to finished, standard-conform RÜB protocols including DABay interface. Access is very easy with a PC or mobile devices via Smartphone App. The big plus for our customers: The acquisition and administration of expensive hardware is no longer necessary.

Claus Steinbrenner

Managing Director bgu-Umweltschutzanlagen GmbH

Satisfied customers

A prime example of purposeful flood protection is the Sulm water board. All basins were connected to FlowChief via path redundancy in order to secure the application in case of catastrophe. A level overview connected to the association’s website enables the population to call up the current water levels.

Read case report

Sewage sludge is dried in order to minimise its quantity and thus transport and disposal costs. SPANGLER has automated a Huber SE belt dryer with control technology from FlowChief. The dry material can be stored and opens up new disposal and recycling paths.

The municipality of Mühlhausen operates a municipal waterworks, one main and two secondary sewage treatment plants. SPANGLER combined the systems with FlowChief technology into one central control system. This allows the operators to switch to the different plant components from any location without an employee having to be on site.

With a capacity of 85,000 inhabitants, Kitzingen’s sewage treatment is by far the largest in the district. In the catchment area there are 22 rainwater overflow basins, 10 pumping and 6 measuring stations. The employees themselves created more than 100 process pictures for the visualization with the FlowChief Imager.

Read case report

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We are looking forward to your inquiries and comments.

Service & Support

You are unique as a customer and so is your project. We know this from 2,000 projects that have been implemented by our system integrators and ourselves.

Our services include:

  • User and partner support by phone and e-mail
  • 24/7 Support
  • Coordinated training program (image processing, reporting, project training)
  • Consulting of engineers and planners
  • Detailed multilingual documentation

Wastewater treatment

Regardless of whether the region is sparsely populated, rural or urban – for the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater and to cope with heavy rainfall, a coordinated infrastructure of sewer networks, pumping stations, rainwater overflow basins and sewage treatment plants is required. All of these systems operate mostly fully automatized. Most advanced process control technology from FlowChief serves as the central intelligence of the entire infrastructure and is the window for the operator into his plants.