Solution Examples
Podcast Episodes
Water crisis 2030 and IoT: Digital solutions to scarce resources and infrastructure
The latest episode of the IoT Use Case Podcast focused on the growing demand for fresh water, which is expected to exceed supply by about 40% by 2030. Guest Antoine, Senior Business Developer at GF Piping Systems and host of the “(don’t) Waste Water” podcast, shed light on how the pressing fresh water issue is always a wastewater treatment issue. Most significantly, 70% of all freshwater supplies are currently used for agricultural purposes, and purified and filtered water could provide an alternative to make more freshwater globally available. Antoine pointed out that today 75% of energy is wasted in the water network. This could be made more efficient through decentralized water treatment and the use of IoT and machine learning. But the shortage of skilled workers poses a hurdle in this regard. Digitalization and IoT could remedy the situation by supporting the operator. It also showed that the 10,000 wastewater treatment plants in Germany consume 4,400 gigawatt hours annually. The machines of Aerzen are main consumers of this electricity. Optimization, e.g. in ventilation and the intake temperature influenced by it, could save up to 180 million euros per year, with the positive impact on CO2 emissions not to be neglected. The podcast provides in-depth insights into the water sector and how technology and innovation can help solve current challenges.
Reducing energy costs & downtimes – IoT at Bad Pyrmont wastewater treatment plant
Aerzen Digital Systems stands for digitalization and digital transformation. The use of existing data interfaces, system integration, cloud solutions, cloud-to-cloud communication, predictive maintenance, smart cities or remote services – trends and buzzwords that are made the topic of this podcast episode. The blowers and compressors of Aerzen are used in wastewater treatment plants and feed oxygen into the so-called biological cleaning process – so also in the sewage treatment plant of Bad Pyrmont. The process of biological treatment accounts for almost 70 % of the energy costs of a wastewater treatment plant. In addition to the absolute requirement of oil-free and cleanliness, the cost factor and CO2 emissions thus also play a significant role. Parameters like these are monitored and optimized using the Aerzen digital solution AERprogress. The solution also enables predictive maintenance: Using artificial intelligence and corresponding sensors on the machines, the system detects at an early stage as soon as a fault is imminent. The goal of Aerzen Digital Systems: The customer should be enabled to act instead of reacting. Downtimes are to be avoided, unplanned shutdowns are to be turned into planned ones. Via the platform, the customer is also able to order spare parts or inform a service technician immediately and at the push of a button. Another topic of this podcast episode is global water stress and water scarcity. The need for wastewater treatment will increase, Aerzen said. The company – with its two and a half thousand employees and 50 sales and service companies – aims to meet the challenges of the future with smart and innovative solutions and further increase its efficiency. Joachim Wehrbein from Aerzen also describes how they ventured the step into consulting and offer machine builders consulting at eye level. Furthermore, this episode discusses the increasing relevance of the topics of service and cooperation between customer and manufacturer in the industry and how Aerzen intends to break down data silos in cloud-to-cloud communication in the future.
