Technologies from Siemens, Xylem, and Cobalt Water Global are being mobilized through a collaboration of 10 water companies, as part of the first Spring Accelerator challenge.
The Spring Accelerator challenge is dedicated to water sector transformation through innovation and collaboration. It was launched in 2021 to support the sector in delivering the ambitions of its Water Innovation 2050 joint strategy and is backed by all UK and Irish water and wastewater companies.
The Spring Accelerator sets challenges related to the Water Innovation 2050 themes, facilitating the end-to-end process from ideation and assessment to collaboration and adoption. The initial stages of the first challenge, which asked innovators to find ways to reduce operational emissions, have successfully completed, with three new innovations on the fast-track to scaling and adoption:
- Siemens optimized performance and emissions reduction by using a white-box digital twin of the wastewater treatment process.
- Xylem’s Treatment System Optimization (TSO) digital twin-based control platform helped with process optimization and greenhouse gas reduction in wastewater treatment.
- Cobalt Water Global developed the N2ORisk Decision Support System to significantly reduce total greenhouse emissions at wastewater treatment plants by focusing on N2O.
Carly Perry, Spring’s managing director, said: “We are thrilled to have three innovative companies reach the collaborative phase of the Spring acceleration process. All three ideas have the potential to be gamechangers in helping the sector achieve its net zero challenge, which is why 10 water companies want to work collaboratively to progress these innovations.”
The ideas were announced at a Spring webinar on 7 July.
“As a supplier, it is exciting to see your solution transparently and robustly tested,” says Adam Cartwright, Siemens head of internet of things applications. “With all the water companies coming together and agreeing a common evaluation framework for the trial it will reduce the time it takes to move to scale adoption. For me, this is the number one benefit of the Accelerator process.”
“Involvement in a truly collaborative approach, to what is one of the critical issues of our time, offers the potential for a best of breed combination of offerings,” says Oliver Puckering, Xylem principal process engineer for digital solutions. “The level of engagement on all fronts has been very promising thus far. Spring is to be commended for this, particularly given this is the first of the challenges.”
Mobilization workshops with the three innovators and water companies, led by Spring, are now underway, and individual trials are being progressed.
