Model-Based Control of Water Treatment with Pumped Water Storage

TL;DR

This paper presents a model predictive control approach for water treatment facilities with pumped storage, aiming to minimize energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions while reliably meeting variable water demand.

Contribution

It introduces a control-oriented hydraulic model and a novel MPC strategy tailored for integrated water treatment and pumped storage systems.

Findings

Effective reduction in energy costs demonstrated.

Reliable water demand fulfillment achieved.

Greenhouse gas emissions minimized through control strategy.

Abstract

Water treatment facilities are critical infrastructure they must accommodate dynamic demand patterns without system disruption. These patterns can be scheduled, such as daily residential irrigation, or unexpected, such as demand spikes from withdrawals for fire management. The critical necessity of clean, safe, and reliable water requires water treatment control strategies that are insensitive to disturbances to guarantee that demand will be met. One essential problem in achieving this is the minimization of energy costs in the process of meeting water demand, especially as the need for decarbonization persists. This work develops a control-oriented hydraulic model of a water treatment facility with integrated pumped storage and introduces a model predictive control strategy for scheduling treatment plant system operations to minimize greenhouse gas emissions and safely meet water demand.