Wessex Water’s Ion Exchange Plant Optimisation

About the Project

Wessex Water operates three drinking water ion exchange treatment plants removing nitrate from groundwater sources. Ion Exchange treatment regeneration produces brine waste. The Wessex treatment site near Blandford discharges brine to a local water recycling centre (WRC) with a daily volume limit. Excess brine waste has to be tankered at higher costs to another site.

Wessex Water has seen an increase in nitrate levels in the ground water source, leading to an increase in financial costs and carbon footprint from this additional tankering. Seeking sustainable solutions to reduce the impact of brine waste, Wessex Water ran a Marketplace challenge. datumpin proposed our patented software monitoring tool to optimise the ion exchange controller logic and reduce brine waste.

Challenges & Objectives

Wessex Water required a solution that would improve operational efficiency, lower costs and improve sustainability. Excess brine tanker costs and frequent maintenance due to scaling were key issues that they wanted to address.

datumpin devised an optimisation workplan building on our patented software monitoring tool providing insightful data analytics leading to controller setpoint adjustments within the existing plant’s control software to enable process optimization and reduce costs.

The Results

datumpins’ eDM has been in use at the Blandford site for over 18 months and has delivered fantastic results, reaching a net saving of over £40,000 per year.

The technology's advanced analytics helped Wessex Water optimise processes so that brine waste volume per regeneration has been reduced, eliminating excess brine tankering. This has created savings of at least £20,000 per year while reducing transportation environmental impact.

The tool has also helped identify the benefits of reducing scaling issues by separating nitrate brine waste from water softening waste streams, delivering labour reductions of £25,000 per year that had been spent cleaning piping, tanks and the cost of descaler chemicals.

Wessex Water can also now plan proactive maintenance on components before they become issues that affect their ability to treat water and put it into supply. Work can be programmed to take place outside of critical periods and prevent unplanned outages that could cost tens of thousands of pounds.

As such a successful project, Wessex Water now plans to install the technology at their two other water treatment centres later this year. The software will also likely be used to form part of ongoing process optimization at a new nitrate treatment plant that will be built in the investment period between 2025 and 2030 at a WTC near Poole.

Partners & Stakeholders

Wessex Water