项目介绍

2025年2月2日

Aalto University is where science and art meet technology and business. We shape a sustainable future by making research breakthroughs in and across our disciplines, sparking the game changers of tomorrow and creating novel solutions to major global challenges. Our community is made up of 13 000 students, 400 professors and close to 4 500 other faculty and staff working on our dynamic campus in Espoo, Greater Helsinki, Finland. Diversity is part of who we are, and we actively work to ensure our community’s diversity and inclusiveness. This is why we warmly encourage qualified candidates from all backgrounds to join our community.

Call for applications for a doctroral researcher position in…

Digital twin in optimization of wastewater treatment’s carbon balance

DIGICARBA

Project description

Water and wastewater treatment are basic necessities in our welfare societies safeguarding health and prosperity by providing key assets for many services and industries as well as protecting the environment. When providing the water and wastewater treatment direct and indirect greenhouse  gas emissions  are  produced. Wastewater  treatment has been shown to be  the  largest contributor to these emissions. During wastewater treatment direct emissions are produced in the nutrient removal process (nitrous oxide) and in the sludge treatment and storage (methane). Indirect emissions are coming from energy consumption and the use of chemicals. During the past decades the major sources for emissions have been identified and mitigation strategies have been developed in Finland and elsewhere.

The main focus of the wastewater treatment has been to meet the effluent requirements specified by the environmental permit while operating the process in a cost-effective manner. Recently, ambitious goals for climate impact mitigation have been set in country, municipality and water utility level. This has led to a new focus in plant operation towards climate impact mitigation and offset benefits.

This research project, called DIGICARBA, develops a digital twin of the wastewater treatment process which will enable proactive information-driven decision-making and predictive process control. Digital twin, in this case, refers to combinations of models and real-time data that provide a digital representation of a wastewater treatment process’ behaviour and runs automatically simulations accessible via a graphical user interface. This enhanced process operation will decrease the greenhouse gas emissions and improve the energy efficiency as well as the effluent quality. The process control is based on automated simulations predicting the behavior of the process and providing new information to support the process operation decision-making.

In addition, the project compiles information about market potential of the advanced wastewater treatment process control systems and actual digital twins. The advanced tool which enables comprehensive impact optimization and includes dynamic climate impact in real-time is foreseen to offer a competitive advantage for the next generation automation systems and allow for the partner companies to thrive in the international markets.

Research questions of the doctoral thesis project are the following:

1)  How can a digital twin be implemented in an advanced wastewater treatment process including carbon footprint optimization? This research question focuses on the data transfer solutions between the physical process, SUMO digital twin tool and the graphical interface including data storage aspects. Valmet DNAe has preliminary planned to be part of the system.

2)  What is an operator-friendly and feasible solution? How can the solution be used? This research question focuses on the user interface and the key performance indicators which will be developed and tested in close collaboration with HSY.

3)  What are the benefits achieved and what kind of resources are needed with a well- functioning digital twin?

4)  What is the market potential of the digital twin?

The DIGICARBA project has started in Aalto University Department of Built Environment Water and environmental engineering research group during Spring 2023. Data collection, data pre-treatment and model construction tasks have been partly carried out during 2023-2024. We are now looking for a Doctoral researcher who would carry out a 4-year doctoral study project leading to a Doctoral thesis from Aalto University. The research methods will be process modelling (mechanistic ASM models with possibly hybrid models), digital control system design, data analysis and market studies. The experimental work will be supported by a team of other Doctoral researchers and Master thesis students. The project is done in collaboration with HSY wastewater treatment plants operating and managing team, FCG process experts, and Valmet Automation specialists.

Main project partners

Aalto-korkeakoulusäätiö  sr,  operating  as  Aalto  University,  is  a  Finnish  multidisciplinary university in the fields of science and technology, economics, architecture, and art and design. The Aalto community consists of about 19000 students (of them, about 12% international) and more than 4600 employees, including ca. 400 professors. Aalto University produces ca. 2000 peer-reviewed journal articles and over 200 doctors yearly. The cornerstones of Aalto University research  are  four  fundamental  competence  areas:  ICT  and  digitalization,  materials  and sustainable use of natural resources, global business dynamics, and arts and design. Aalto University comprises six schools and will participate in this project with two of them: the School of Engineering (Aalto-ENG) and the School of Arts, Design and Architecture (Aalto-ARTS). The School of Engineering’s strengths include application oriented systems know-how and its tradition of experimental research, societal interaction and impact, and expertise in engineering. Aalto’s contribution from Aalto-ENG is managed in the Department of Built Environment’s Water and Environmental Engineering Group by Professor of Practice Anna Mikola. The group has focused on nutrient removal in municipal wastewater treatment since 1980s and more recently the research and development efforts are directed to carbon neutrality in wastewater treatment and nutrient recovery.

Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority HSY is a municipal body, which produces waste  management  and  water  services,  as  well  as  providing  information  on  the  Helsinki Metropolitan Area and environment. HSY supplies high-quality drinking water for over one million inhabitants throughout the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. HSY treats wastewater generated by households and industry in order to protect the Baltic Sea as well as build and repair the water pipe and sewer network. The member cities of the Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority HSY are Espoo, Helsinki, Kauniainen and Vantaa. HSY promotes the implementation of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Climate Strategy 2030 and the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Climate Change Adaptation Strategy.

Finnish Consulting Group FCG is one of the leading companies in Finland working on the water and wastewater engineering designs. FCG has a long and wide experience on process, operation, instrumentation and automation design and it has prepared these designs for HSY’s wastewater treatment plants  (Viikinmäki  and Blominmäki).  FCG  has been also active  in  studying and developing solutions for wastewater treatments’ climate impact mitigation as well as digital solutions for process operation and control.

Valmet Automation provides the automation system in use in HSY’s wastewater treatment plants. Valmet has a strong expertise on process operation optimization using efficient control systems and has a global network of references in wastewater treatment plant automation.

How to apply?

The applicants are required to have completed Master level studies in high-quality educational organization in a discipline supporting the research theme and methods. Good language skills in English are required and a good command of Finnish is desirable. The applicants are kindly asked to apply for the position by sending their CV, study records from the Master studies and a motivation letter by February 28th 2025. The application should be sent through the Workday system and material should be submitted in English in a single pdf-file.

More information

For more information please contact Assistant prof. Anna Mikola (anna.mikola@aalto.fi). For questions related to the recruitment process, please contact elmeri.martikainen@aalto.fi.  

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