China managing its water quality with AI
In recent years, China has advanced its environmental policies, pushing the wastewater treatment sector toward a greener and more sustainable future. Focused on reducing pollution and carbon emissions while promoting efficient resource use, the country has integrated cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and low-carbon energy alternatives to drive the transformation of wastewater treatment, CGTN reports.
One notable example is in Hefei City, east China's Anhui Province, where the largest sewage treatment plant in the region, Xiaocangfang, has implemented an AI-driven water management system.
This system constantly monitors water quality and adjusts treatment parameters in real-time, reducing the need for manual intervention and increasing both operational efficiency and stability.
It predicts key indicators like inflow and outflow volumes, ammonia nitrogen concentration, and chemical oxygen demand with high accuracy.
The plant is designed to process up to 400,000 tonnes of wastewater daily. However, due to factors like seasonal cycles and weather, the daily inflow can fluctuate significantly, from nearly 500,000 tonnes on busy days to just over 200,000 tonnes on quieter ones. Water quality can also vary greatly.
The AI-generated water quality predictions have allowed the plant's operational team to better understand fluctuations in water quality ahead of time.
Initially, the AI water system's prediction accuracy was around 80 percent, but with continuous data training and the refinement of algorithm models, the accuracy has steadily improved and now aims for a rate of 96 to 98 percent.
Similarly, in Shanghai, the sewage treatment plant in the Fengxian District has deployed an AI-based dosing system to optimize the dosing of chemicals based on real-time water quality data, resulting in more accurate treatment, reduced chemical waste, and improved water quality.
In Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, the country's first-ever wastewater treatment plant combining photovoltaic (PV) energy with zero wastewater discharge has been operational since last October.
Using solar power to run its wastewater treatment processes, the plant significantly reduces energy consumption and carbon emissions.
It processes up to 100,000 tonnes of wastewater daily, with a remarkable reuse rate of 95 percent. It generates around 6 million kWh of green, clean electricity, equating to saving 1,986 tonnes of standard coal and reducing carbon emissions by 5,983 tonnes each year. The remaining brine can be further treated to produce industrial salts like sodium chloride and sodium sulfate, which can be resold, achieving both environmental protection and economic benefits.
In response to the successful practice, Ordos is moving forward with a second wastewater treatment plant, designed specifically for its high-tech zone, providing high-quality water and wastewater treatment for growing local industries such as cloud computing.
The new plant is expected to begin operation by this September.
China's wastewater treatment industry is undergoing a transformation, which is shifting from traditional pollution control methods to approaches that focus on reducing pollution, lowering carbon emissions and increasing efficiency, Ming Yunfeng, secretary-general of the Industrial Water Treatment Specialized Committee of the Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, told China Media Group.
In the past, wastewater treatment plants often sought higher effluent standards by increasing aeration and adding chemical agents, which led to higher energy consumption and carbon emissions, said Ming. Now continuously optimized processes and the adoption of low-carbon technologies, such as energy substitution, are making industrial wastewater treatment greener and more sustainable.
Earlier, Kazinform News Agency released an article on how countries are harnessing AI, presenting case studies across key sectors.
