When you zoom in on the town of Kalundborg in Google Maps, the size of the joint industrial wastewater treatment plant operated by Novonesis and Novo Nordisk becomes clear. The facility is one of the largest of its kind in Scandinavia, and now it's getting even bigger.
When an expansion of the facility is completed later this year to handle even more wastewater from both the Novonesis and Novo Nordisk plants, it will be able to process twice as much organic material in the wastewater as before. To treat the large amount of organic material in the wastewater at an increasingly complex facility,Novonesis uses a so-called digital twin. Put simply, a digital twin consists of computer simulations that can virtually test changes in operations, optimize energy consumption, and reduce the carbon footprint.
Novonesis wants to use the digital twin as a decision-making tool to provide an overview of complex processes, support day-to-day operations, and assess the consequences if parts of the facility are out of service. This is intended to reduce costs, minimize resource consumption, and meet stricter environmental requirements.
"Water is a scarce resource, which makes it especially important to use water, energy, and byproducts more sustainably. At the same time, production facilities are expanding, environmental requirements are becoming more stringent, and new regulations are further restricting emissions of, for example, nitrogen, chemicals, and greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide. This requires stable and precise control of wastewater treatment plants—and this is where new digital solutions can help us overcome environmental challenges and create more sustainable operations," says DTU Professor Krist V. Gernaey.
