South Platte Renew (SPR), the third largest water resource recovery system in Colorado, is always looking for new ways to enhance sustainability. Using AVEVA™ Advanced Process Control, South Platte Renew is able to anticipate rather than simply react to ammonia load variability, more efficiently converting ammonia to nitrate in process tanks, and lessening energy demands.
“There’s a paradigm shift when you think about sustainability. We need to do more.”
Anna Schroeder, Engineering Supervisor, South Platte Renew
Goals
- Achieve stable, year-round partial nitrification performance in solids contact tanks
- Improve energy efficiency by reducing blower system demands
- Foster enthusiasm among operations staff for long-term use of advanced process control
Challenges
- Address increasingly stringent regulations on nutrient removal
- Maintain ammonia setpoint when diurnal ammonia loading fluctuates over time and requires a real-time monitory rapid response
- Operate within peak usage limits of local power distribution
Solutions
Results
- Improved process stability and ammonia removal within 14 hours of implementation
- Reduced ammonia load variability to under 25% of traditional ABAC-based control
- Increased plant resiliency while reducing energy consumption by 30%
- $80,000 in saved energy cost per year offset expenditures on AVEVA licenses, meaning program’s implementation involved no additional spending by SPR
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