Virtual E.coli sensor project with artificial intelligence VECOLI wins Skion Sustainable Solutions Awards

2024-09-10

Virtual E.coli sensor project with artificial intelligence VECOLI wins Skion Sustainable Solutions Awards

The development of a virtual E.coli sensor using artificial intelligence to minimize risks in reclaimed water in the food industry has won the Skion Water Sustainable Solutions Awards 2024 of the Skion Group, in the Water Footprint category.

The VECOLI project, driven by Adasa's Water Sensors department, enables real-time estimation of microbiological contamination of reclaimed water by E. coli bacteria and thus ensures water quality. This results in guaranteeing the safe use of this water in industries such as the meat industry, in applications such as the cleaning of trucks and corrals.

 

Artificial intelligence and virtual sensor as a solution to water shortages
Water reuse offers significant room for improvement to reduce water consumption in a sector as important as the meat industry.

The VECOLI project addresses this need through the proposal of a virtual sensor to determine reliably and through continuous monitoring the concentration of the E. coli microorganism in the treated effluent.

This virtual sensor works through an artificial intelligence module fed from time series of data taken directly in the effluent by standard sensors.

Jordi Cros, Head of Innovation and Portfolio Development Manager Water Sensors, comments that “the application of Artificial Intelligence for the implementation of the model of the E. coli based on physicochemical parameters that are quick and cheap to obtain, such as REDOX, turbidity or SAC (Spectral Absorbance Coefficient), allows to obtain in real time at a very affordable cost a very good estimation of E. coli, which allows a continuous control of the quality of the water leaving the treatment plant, thus ensuring that it is suitable for use as reclaimed water”.

Benefits resulting from the VECOLI project

The use of a virtual sensor brings a number of clear advantages:

  1. Speed of analysis and obtaining results, which through traditional laboratory methods would take hours or days to obtain.
  2. Reliability.
  3. Its immediacy makes it possible to demonstrate that the safety and quality criteria of the water are those stipulated at all times, thus overcoming the legal barriers to its reuse.
  4. By ensuring the quality of reclaimed water, artificially intelligent sensors extend its applications and contribute to a smaller water footprint and significant water savings.

The SkionWater Sustainable Solutions Awards are organized by the Skion Water Group and recognize the projects (solutions) that favor the reduction of CO2 emissions and water footprint developed by the companies that belong to the group.

For Adasa, this is a very important recognition and underlines the good reception of this type of projects, which exemplify how digitalization, real-time and continuous analytics and artificial intelligence can decisively help to achieve the challenges of sustainability, savings and water quality.