SALWATERTWIN

About This Project

Definition of a digital twin for smart and circular technologies applied to local saline water treatment – ​​SALWATERTWIN

Execution period:

March 2022 – December 2022

Coordinator

Participants

SALWATERTWIN is an industrial research project that aims to design and validate at laboratory scale a small semi-autonomous plant that operates under solar energy consumption and in a decentralized way to treat the problem of salinity in groundwater. The design of the plant will incorporate a digital twin that will allow an efficient and smart management encompassing all the parameters that occur in a real environment.

Saline intrusion into aquifers is an increasingly frequent phenomenon, often caused by groundwater overexploitation, and compromises the availability of this resource with the minimum quality standards for agricultural irrigation. At present, the opportunities for implementing desalination systems at medium and small scale have not been properly explored and the technologies have generally been applied in large-scale plants and for the generation of water for urban or domestic uses. In this context, the adoption of desalination technologies to groundwater for agricultural applications is an emerging opportunity. Thus, this industrial research study aims to explore the applicability of these technologies in small or medium-sized plants to generate water fit for irrigation from high-salinity groundwater. The application of photovoltaic panels will reduce plant operating costs related to energy consumption. In addition, the other highly innovative element of the SALTWATERTWIN project is the development of a digital twin applied to the treatment plant design and operation optimization, ensuring an efficient management of the plant and a reduction of the associated costs.

A second phase of development is planned for the future with the construction of a pilot plant to test the solution and demonstrate its technical and economic feasibility. The final objective, at the end of the two phases, is to obtain a small-sized and containerized plant that can be transported and operated in small or medium sized farms, with a built-in digital twin.

Funding:

SALWATERTWIN, with file number AEI-010500-2022-60, is co-funded by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MINCOTUR) through the first call for AEIs of 2022.