Application of unsupervised learning and process simulation for energy optimization of a WWTP under various weather conditions.

Borzooei S, Miranda GHB, Abolfathi S, Scibilia G, Meucci L, Zanetti MC

Water Sci Technol 81 (8) 1541-1551 [2020-04-00; online 2020-07-10]

This paper outlines a hybrid modeling approach to facilitate weather-based operation and energy optimization for the largest Italian wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Two clustering methods, K-means algorithm and Gaussian mixture model (GMM) based on the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm, were applied to an extensive dataset of historical and meteorological records. This study addresses the problem of determining the intrinsic structure of clustered data when no information other than the observed values is available. Two quantitative indexes, namely the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) and the Silhouette coefficient using Euclidean distance, as well as two general criteria, were implemented to assess the clustering quality. Furthermore, seven weather-based influent scenarios were introduced to the process simulation model, and sets of aeration strategies are proposed. The results indicate that incorporating weather-based aeration strategies in the operation of the WWTP improves plant energy efficiency.

Gisele Miranda

SciLifeLab Fellow

PubMed 32644947

DOI 10.2166/wst.2020.220

Crossref 10.2166/wst.2020.220


Publications 9.5.1