Development of optimization software to improve the efficiencies of desalination and wastewater treatment

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Pani Energy is developing a novel membrane process design technology and optimization software ("Pani Digital") that enhances cost efficiencies of water processes such as desalination or wastewater treatment plants. A key component of the process design technology is a real-time responsive control system that ensures optimal operations based on computational models of plant components. The model components specify the plant operating rules which control component off/on schedules (on hourly update rates). Preliminary modeling work has highlighted a number of key technical development challenges: 1) the number of free control variables; 2) the number and complexity of the governing equations; 3) a mixture of non-linear and implicit equations, and; 4) time dependency due to component degradation. Traditional physical model-based optimization techniques are challenged to solve this type of problem. Predictive analytics, using historical plant data along with analysis, statistics, and machine learning techniques, may provide a more effective means to control the optimizations required. In a predictive analytics workflow, time enters the model on a fundamental level. Supervised machine learning techniques can take both controllable and observable/unobservable variables to simulate plant operation, and thereby enable effective control of the plant.