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Connecting Engineers

Publication of the Chamber of Engineers August 2012 | Issue 42

Our Annual Conference p42

Water, water but is it everywhere? p6

our sponsor:

GE Energy Industrial Solutions

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Contents

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Publication of the Chamber of Engineers

Cover Image A man-made lake in Australia that is part of a sewage treatment plant where effluent is recycled.

August 2012

www.coe.org.mt

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From the Editor

From the President

Editor Ing. John Pace

Water Consumption Benchmarks

Why does a DC Power Supply need a Power Sink?

Science and Application of Water Management

In Search of Excellence in Water Management

Science Impact on Tomorrow’s Urban Structures

New Intelligent Lighting Systems Available from Hydrolectric Limited

Providing Germ Free Drinking Water

COE Conference Feature

Case Study: The AIS SCADA System

© Chamber of Engineers 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Chamber of Engineers – Malta. Opinions expressed in Engineering Today are not necessarily those of the Chamber of Engineers – Malta. All care has been taken to ensure truth and accuracy, but the Editorial Board cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions in the articles, pictographs or illustrations.

Editorial Board Ing. John Pace Ing. Paul Refalo Ing. Ray Vassallo Prof. Robert Ghirlando Chamber of Engineers, Professional Centre, Sliema Road, Gzira, GZR 1633, Malta Tel: +356 2133 4858 Fax: +356 2134 7118 Email: info@coe.org.mt Web: www.coe.org.mt

Design by:

A member of:

www.darkdragonmedia.com

From the editor by Ing. John Pace

The annual Engineering Conference is definitely the biggest engineering event of the year in Malta. The theme chosen by the Chamber is always topical and this attracts the best speakers and audience. This year was no exception and the theme “Water, a 21st Century Challenge” proved true to its title, and the packed audience were treated with a set of papers which tackled the subject in all its varied aspects. Water supply is a specialized sector of engineering, but it is remarkable how many engineers attended and participated actively in the discussions. This arises from the fact that the rising consumption of water is a matter of deep concern to everyone and it will be worthwhile for all engineers, including those who were not able to attend the conference, to have access to the papers read at the event.

August 2012

Issue No. 42

The conference was organised in collaboration with WSC on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Corporation. The keynote speech was give by Minister Mario Demarco, and was a well prepared dissertation on all aspects of water supply, starting with the historical origins and progress, then dealing with the present situation and concluding with the administration’s vision and policies on the subject. This opened the field for the authors’ papers which treated the subject from a variety of points of view. Various papers commented on the situation in water supply. Manuel Sapiano from the Malta Resources Corporation pointed out that the present rate of extraction of groundwater is unsustainable and needs to be drastically reduced. Dirk De Ketelaere from the Malta Water Association was even more explicit:

Malta’s most precious recourse, he stated, is on the verge of extinction. He went on to expound the MWA’s recommendations for a National Water Management Plan. Marco Cremona stated that only 4% of the potable water produced in Malta was needed for drinking and the bulk of domestic use went to washing and toilet flushing. Separating the functions would be a solution. Paul Refalo looked into the future when he described water desalination using renewable sources. Geoffrey Saliba described an EU funded project to formulate benchmarks and issue guidelines on the use of water in hotels. Finally Marc Muscat, CEO of the Water Services Corporation, explained that the Corporation was well aware of the challenges in the sector and gave a comprehensive description of the actions and policies of the WSC. Other aspects of water were also the subject of papers read at the conference. Tim Waldron spoke of his experience in the management of water resources in Australia, while Avi Ostfeld’s paper dealt with investigations in the growth of cyanobacteria in Lake Kinneret, which supplies a large proportion of the drinking water in Israel.

Michael D’Amato spoke of the various means of water disinfection. Michael Bucher described the impact of water on future urban structures in the massive project of the Fraunhofer Institute on future cities. Mario Schembri gave a presentation of the Scada projects in the water sector both in Malta and in Libya. Not quite conforming to the conference theme was Keith Buhagiar’s paper on ancient water systems in Malta, which illustrated man’s ingenuity in tackling the challenges of scarce water supply in a situation of rising demand in ages past. This special issue gives a taste of the conference. It was not possible to include all the papers because of lack of space, and most of the papers are being shown in abridged form. Readers will find the various papers instructive and, true to the theme of the conference, challenging. ET

Ing. John Pace Editor, Engineering Today

August 2012

Issue No. 42

From the President by Ing. Saviour Baldacchino

Dear Colleagues... Earlier on today, the 2nd of August 2012, the Executive Council of the Chamber of Engineers had a meeting with the Honourable Prime Minister, Dr Lawrence Gonzi and MEP Dr Simon Busuttil at the Federation of Professional Associations’ building. This was the second meeting of the existing Council with the Prime Minister.

deserving dedicating this publication solely to them. Special thanks go to the speakers, sponsors and the organising committee who did a great job in producing another successful, high standard event in line with the Chamber’s custom.

In his reply to the introduction by the Chamber’s President, Dr Gonzi stated that the engineering profession will continue to play a very important role in the country’s economic development. The topics discussed during the meeting included updating of the Engineering Act which regulates the profession, regulation of technology supported by government incentives, education quality, foreign investment in high tech and engineering industries, research and innovation in industry and the socio-economic development of the engineering profession in Malta. During the meeting, the Executive Council presented a paper highlighting further details on the mentioned topics to be considered for inclusion in the electoral programme of political parties. Each topic was discussed in some depth during the said meeting which lasted over an hour. This special issue of Engineering Today features papers presented during the one-day national conference held in May 2012. The annual engineering conference, is one of the flagship events organised by the Chamber. The theme of this year’s event was “Water: A 21st Century Challenge”. The conference was inaugurated by the Honourable Minister for Tourism, the Environment and Culture, Dr Mario de Marco. A line-up of outstanding local and foreign speakers delivered excellent presentations

August 2012

Issue No. 42

Water: A 21st Century Challenge

On the 4th and 5th of July 2012, awards were presented for the best final year projects to former students of the faculties of ICT and Engineering respectively. The presentation took place during the inauguration ceremony of the projects exhibition of the respective faculties at the University of Malta. Three panels of judges were set up to evaluate projects coming from the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and ICT streams. I take this opportunity to

congratulate the winners and all the nominees for their achievement in being shortlisted for the awards. A special thanks go to the judges for the painstaking task of having to select the winners from closely competing projects. The Chamber’s Executive Council encourages members to follow its activities on line at www. coe.org.mt, through its monthly E-newsletter and fortnightly “Events & Opportunities” e-mail communication. Any member who is missing any of these communications, please let us know on info@coe.org.mt to identify

and rectify the problem. Your feedback on anything you would like to see happening at the Chamber is greatly appreciated. Finally, on behalf of the Council and staff, I wish you happy Summer holidays.

2nd August 2012

Yours Sincerely,

Ing. Saviour M. Baldacchino President, Chamber of Engineers

president@coe.org.mt http://www.coe.org.mt

Ing. Saviour Baldacchino President, Chamber of Engineers

August 2012

Issue No. 42

Water Consumption Benchmarks, a Step towards Reduced Consumption

by Geoffrey Saliba

By the Malta Business Bureau’s EU LIFE + Investing in Water Project. Introducing the EU LIFE + Investing in Water Project

Abstract With only 40m3 of renewable freshwater per capita Malta is considered one of the top ten countries worldwide for water scarcity. Malta’s only natural exploitable source of freshwater is groundwater, yet 48% more of this resource is estimated to be extracted than is naturally recharged on an annual basis. It is critical that wasteful consumption is eliminated if this unsustainable over-exploitation is to be stopped. The Malta Business Bureau’s EU LIFE+ Investing in Water Project is an EU funded project aimed at identifying water saving solutions for businesses and hotels, thus leading to a reduction in water consumption of at least 10% amongst interested enterprises. The project is managed by the Malta Business Bureau, supported by partners The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association. This project started in October 2011 and will run until March 2014, and is the first national initiative of this scale addressing the sustainable use of water in Malta to be carried out by a local partnership. This paper presents water consumption benchmarks for several industries and hotels of different classifications as obtained by the Project at the time of writing (May 2012). These benchmarks may provide an accessible reference point for plant engineers, managers, engineering services consultants and officials entrusted with cost-cutting to compare their water consumption. The benchmarks may also serve to identify the consumers’ need to more efficiently manage their water consumption, thus guiding water conservation efforts.

August 2012

Issue No. 42

The project aims to empower enterprises and bring them to a position where they can analyse their consumption, identify appropriate solutions, then implement the solutions and monitor consumption to evaluate the success of the interventions. The EU LIFE+ Investing in Water Project advocates the following water saving hierarchy: 1. Reduce waste by increasing the efficiency in consumption, 2. Harvest and use rainwater, 3. Carry out the in-house recycling of waste water (grey or black) for re-use, 4. Source externally recycled waste water for use (e.g. using treated effluent from municipal sewage treatment plants). This paper supports the project’s aim of helping enterprises reduce their consumption by presenting current water consumption benchmarks for 3,4,5 star hotels, offices, and manufacturing enterprises, together with a general breakdown showing the percentage range of service water compared to process water consumed by these enterprises. The paper also identifies a water saving opportunity which a set of water audits carried out by the project reveal. The opportunity arises from the lack of standardisation in flow rates of showers and wash hand basins, and toilet flushing volumes which leads to excessive water consumption in these facilities. Through the paper the project is recommending standard flow rates and flushing volumes, which will help enterprises in their efforts to reduce service water consumption.

Empowering Enterprises to Save Water – The Process Trends in Water Consumption – Results of the First Set of Water Audits The Project has carried out 38 audits to date, in 20 hotels and 18 businesses. The hotels ranged from 3 star to 5 star, while the businesses surveyed ranged from offices employing 30 staff to manufacturing facilities with 950 employees . It was decided at the onset that the project would try to engage a wide and varied range of businesses as possible, also so that the solutions arising thereof could be employed across the board. Although the project’s focus is on service water (i.e. water used by guests in the guest rooms in the case of hotels, and employees in the case of businesses), the water expert engaged by the project to carry out the audit also evaluated process water use and provided recommendations on how it is possible to save process water too. Water consumption data for 2011 (on a month by month basis) was obtained from the various businesses and assessed by the project. In the case of hotels this data was generally readily available; in the case of some businesses the only water data made available were the water utility’s bills, usually issued every 2 months. In most instances, town water was not the only water used in the premises, with some hotels and businesses purchasing bowser water (potable or non-potable), others abstracting groundwater through registered boreholes, and some others still using seawater for the flushing of toilet cisterns. Rainwater harvesting is practiced in some instances, albeit to a small degree. Most large coastal hotels produce their own water in-house by means of their own desalination (Reverse Osmosis) plant. While

Reverse Osmosis plant production is metered, other sources are generally not, necessitating the use of realistic assumptions in order to derive a complete picture of consumption. Correlations were derived between guest nights and water consumption, also as a means of verification of the data supplied by hotels. This is important because hotel occupancy varies considerably between the peak (summer) and low (winter) seasons, with variations of 40% to 100% being recorded. In the case of office buildings, water consumption is relatively stable and only varies seasonally through the additional employment of some part-time staff in summer. The data collection enabled the Project to produce the first consumption benchmarks for Malta which are based on such in-depth data analysis of water consumption. The results are shown in Figure 1 below. Current Benchmarks: Hotels 3*

199 lt per g/n

Hotels 4*

292 lt per g/n

Hotels 5*

462 lt per g/n .

Offices

25 lt per e/d

Factories

24 lt per e/d

Factories w/ showers

46 lt per e/d

Figure 1: Current Consumption Quantities for hotels and businesses in Malta The project also sought to construct a breakdown for the water consumption of each audited hotel and business. Figure 2 shows examples of typical water consumption patterns for a hostel-type hotel and a 5 star hotel.

August 2012

Issue No. 42

Water Consumption Benchmarks, a Step towards Reduced Consumption (cont.)

While the service water (water used in showers/baths, wash-hand basins and toilets) consumption in a hostel-type hotel makes up for as much as 85% of total consumption, this drops to around 40% in the case of some 5 star hotels – the reason being that 5 star hotels have a plethora of non-guest related water consuming services such as swimming pools and spas, landscaping, conference and wedding halls, laundries, restaurants and cafes catering for non-guests etc.

manufacturing process, it is not uncommon for the service water consumption in manufacturing facilities to exceed the process water consumption.

Figure 3: Breakdown of water consumption for an office building and a manufacturing facility

Figure 2: Breakdown of water consumption for different hotel categories Similarly there are significant differences in the way water is used in businesses. Whereas the water consumption in office buildings is almost exclusively service water, manufacturing facilities may consume significant amounts of process water (Figure 3). While the amount of process water consumed depends greatly on the product being manufactured and the

The first set of audits showed that Service water (toilets, showers, wash-hand basins) could account for: • Between 38% and 86% of total water consumed by hotels • Between 5% and 98% of total water consumed by offices and factories Water Saving Opportunity – Adopting Standard Flow Rates and Flushing Volumes Over the course of the audits the project took measurements of actual flows from taps and showers, and noted flushing cistern volumes for toilets. Huge variations in flow rates were

August 2012

Issue No. 42

Water Consumption Benchmarks, a Step towards Reduced Consumption (cont.)

observed, not only from one premises to another but also within the same premises. This is attributed to systems which result in water pressure varying from one floor to another and is more pronounced in multi-story buildings (generally hotels) with the water pressure, and subsequent flow rates, being higher in the lower floors. In some instances, a gravity fed (roof tank) water system may be delivering an insufficient 4 litres per minute from a shower head at the 5th floor level, while also delivering an excessive 12 litres per minute at the 1st floor level. It was also noted that toilets having a wide range of flushing volumes are installed in hotels and businesses in Malta, with a flush volume of anything from 6 litres to 15 litres having been encountered over the course of the audits. The project concludes that in general, most systems have an element of over-design which is resulting in more water delivered for service water features than necessary. For this reason and on the basis of the experience gained through the audits, the Project recommends that enterprises adopt the following flow rates and flushing volumes as standards:

Toilet flushing cistern volume

6 litres

Shower flow rate

7 litres/min

Wash-hand Basin flow rate

5 litres/min

From the data obtained so far, the Project estimates that through the adoption of these standards, savings of 10% - 15% on service water are easily achievable.

August 2012

Issue No. 42

The Near Future Until the end of 2013 the project will continue working with enterprises to facilitate the adoption of water saving solutions. The project will also monitor water consumption to evaluate the success of these solutions in reducing water consumption. The project therefore foresees that during the first quarter of 2014 a follow up to this paper will be published, announcing revised water consumption benchmarks for enterprises which have adopted successful water saving solutions.

By the Malta Business Bureauâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s EU LIFE + Investing in Water Project. ET

Geoffrey Saliba

Project Manager, EU LIFE+ Investing in Water Project

August 2012

Issue No. 42

improve your current situation.

The digital power supply! The new SM3300 series is digital and is ready for use within a second. The input of the SM3300-series has been designed to be connected to every grid in the world. Single phase or 3 phase, this power supply can handle them both as long as the input voltage is between 180 VAC and 528 VAC. The grapical display, standard ethernet interface and web-server offer extended settings and monitoring.

DELTA MALTA Ltd DC POWER SUPPLIES

Why does a DC Power Supply need a Power Sink?

DELTA MALTA Ltd DC POWER SUPPLIES

Modern Loads and Test-Systems become more demanding Supplying power is simply not enough to ensure a constant supply voltage under varying load conditions. What if load conditions are such that transient power can be fed back to the source ? This will result in a non controlled increase in the supply voltage and may lead to failure. The extra power needs to be drained so as to maintain a constant supply voltage.

Reverse Current DC Motors are more and more controlled by a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) circuit; the advantage is a flexible lossless speed control. Car makers make use of this technique to make new solutions possible for pumps, electric steering, brakes, windscreen wipers, hybrid cars and more. Also energy is conserved, this means less heat dissipation. The special behaviour of a PWM controlled motor is the return of power during a braking action. In fig. 1 you can see the typical load current, in phase I the motor accelerates; in phase II it has constant speed with a certain load and in phase III the motor brakes and the current becomes negative.

Fig. 1 Typical load current PWM - Controlled DC Motor.

Output under control

Fig. 2 Simplified output circuit normal power supply. Braking power of motor charges output-capacitor.

Normally the output circuit of a power supply is not designed to absorb current returned by the load; see the simplified circuit in fig. 2. The only path left for the negative load current is into the output capacitor Co, so it will charge and the voltage will rise without any control from the power supply, following the formula dv/dt = i/C. To solve this problem a Power Sink is added, symbolised by the transistor in fig. 3, and integrated in the voltage control of the power supply. So the output voltage is kept to the desired voltage, whether the operation mode is sink or source. Dynamically the system reacts fast, see fig. 4. In this example the load current is switched between positive and negative (a harsh condition). On the output voltage only a slight variation is visible (upper trace). On a normal unit the voltage would rise uncontrolled, see fig. 5.

Fig. 3 Braking power of motor absorbed by power sink equipped power supply. No voltage rise.

Fig. 4 Dynamic reaction of power sink. Load current switches between positive and negative.

Fig. 5 Without power sink. Uncontrolled voltage rise when the load current goes negative.

Science and Application of Water Management

by Prof. Avi Ostfeld

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology Haifa, 32000, Israel. Cyanobacteria blooming in surface waters is a major concern around the world causing unsightliness and producing a variety of toxins and undesirable tastes and odours. When cyanobacteria bloom the natural balance of the ecological system is impaired causing distractive effects on the water body which limit their usage. To control the growth of cyanobacteria, forecasting tools need to be developed. Those in turn acquire a good understanding of the mechanisms for cyanobacteria growth and in particular its relationships with its surrounding physical, chemical, and biological environments. Such understanding still falls short thus approaches of mathematical process-based (deterministic), statistically based, rule-based (heuristic), and artificial neural networks have been the subject of extensive research for cyanobacteria forecasting during the last two decades. This study suggests a coupled data driven (model trees) evolutionary (genetic) algorithm scheme for toxic cyanobacteria blooms prediction. The methodology strengths and limitations are demonstrated on Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) in Israel through trial runs and sensitivity analyses.

model trees are derived which hold similar matching results, but differ in the optimal selected input variables and the cyanobacteria prediction horizon. The user can thus select a model tree based not only on matching results, but also on more reliable variable measurements (e.g., physical measures of temperature or water level versus algae concentrations) and a forecast horizon. The coupled approach takes advantage of the model trees strength in solving classification problems and applies the proven capabilities of a genetic algorithm in optimization to polish its performance. In each iteration the model trees performance is used as the genetic algorithm objective (fitness) function. Thus optimization is guided by the accuracy of the model tree modelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s predictions and improves it continuously. The database used for this study consists of 87 variables partitioned into physical (e.g., water level) chemical (e.g., nitrate), biological (e.g., Peridinium wet weight biomass), and external loading (e.g., total phosphorus) sets. The algorithm described herein refers to this database. The algorithm includes the following steps:

Methodology Step A: Initialization In this study a coupled data driven (model trees) evolutionary (genetic) algorithm scheme for forecasting toxic cyanobacteria blooms in Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee), Israel is developed and demonstrated. Through using model trees coupled with a genetic algorithm scheme for optimizing the model trees input variables and lag times, a simple set of rules is obtained for cyanobacteria forecasting. Using sensitivity analyses, multiple

1. Randomly select from the database a predefined number of variables [e.g., four variables: one from each database group (i.e., one from the physical, one from the chemical, one from the biological, and one from the external loading) or any four from the entire database). 2. Randomly select a time lag (in weeks) for each of the picked variables.

August 2012

Issue No. 42

Science and Application of Water Management (cont.)

3. Repeat 1 and 2 until a set of variables and time lags are chosen (i.e., the initial GA population).

Fig. 1 shows the interface of the developed program, and Fig. 2 an example of the obtained results.

Step B: Model tree (MT) construction 1. Construct a model tree for each of the GA strings using Cubist (Quinlan, 1993) for cyanobacteria blooms prediction. 2. Assign each string an objective (fitness) value equal to its resulted correlation coefficient computed on an external independent cross validation dataset. Step C: Genetic algorithm (GA)

Fig. 1: Main menu of the developed program

1. Perform selection, crossover, and mutation using optiGA (Salomons, 2002). 2. Construct a new population of strings (i.e., variables and time lags). 3. Check if stopping conditions are met (i.e., if no improvement is gained through a predefined number of generations or if the maximum number of generations is attained). If stopping conditions are met then define the corresponding highest correlation coefficient string as the optimal solution (i.e., the optimal model tree), otherwise go back to Step B. The following GA parameters (Salomons, 2002) were used in this application: string – integer; selector – roulette; crossover – one point; elitism – the best string in each generation is included unchanged in the next generation; crossover probability – 0.95; mutation probability – 0.02; generation number – 50; and population size – 50. Running time of a single trial was 3.2 min on a PC Lenovo T7300@2.00GHz, 778 MHz, 1.98 GB of RAM.

Concentration (Microgram / Liter)

3500

Measured values Predicted values

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0 1

13 17 21 25 29 33 37 41 45 49 53 57 61 65 69 73 77 81 85 89 93 97 101

Cross validation sample number

Fig. 2: Results example Conclusion Hybrid modelling which combines evolutionary algorithms (EAs) with machine learning (ML)/ data driven modelling (DDM) for long term and real time decision making is currently on the cutting edge of science and application for water resources systems management. The case study described above suggests a new approach through linking model trees with a genetic algorithm for both modelling and

August 2012

Issue No. 42

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predicting the growth of toxic cyanobacteria in surface waters. The model results a simple set of empirical linear rules and a forecast horizon. The correlation coefficient on a cross validation dataset estimates the accuracy of the prediction. The methodology was tested on Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee), Israel data.

prediction ability versus the optimal correlation coefficient (i.e., fitness) using multi-objective optimization. ET Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s note: This paper was abridged because of space limitations. Readers who wish to see the full paper are requested to contact the editor on info@coe.org.mt

While computationally intensive, one of the ongoing extension directions of the model is to explore the tradeoff between the model

Prof. Avi Ostfeld

Associate Professor, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering

August 2012

Issue No. 42

Why is Conergy Conergy aa firm firm favourite favourite Why Why is iswith Conergy a firm favourite Engineers worldwide worldwide ?? with Engineers with Engineers worldwide ? With over 12 years of experience in solar energy, German engineered and over 1.7 million installations worldwide the Conergy PV

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2. Module Quality & Materials Used 2. Module Quality & Materials Used 2. Module & Materials When it comesQuality to PV panels, efficiency isUsed NOT the only gold standard! High Yield and Lifetime Durability are both essential. So what makes a quality module?

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checks in all processes horizontally • Regular 100% testing of checks all material – reduce changes • Unique module heat yieldventilation system to dissipate diode heat and increase • quality in allcombinations processes • Unique heat ventilation system to dissipate diode heat and increase • Regular quality checks in all processes • module Air-flow yield vanes for greater heat dissipation which results in increased yield • module Air-flow vanes for greater heat dissipation which results in increased energy production • energy Air-flowproduction vanes for greater heat dissipation which results in increased Hollow Free Frame energy production Hollow Free Frame Consequences: Common Frame Problems: Hollow Free Frame Consequences: Common Frame Problems: • Reduced mechanical stability Low Resistance Insulated Cables Consequences: Common Frame Problems: • Reduced mechanical stability Low Resistance Insulated Cables Collapse of frame • Collapse Reduced of mechanical stability LowCommon 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In Search of Excellence in Water Management by Eng. Dirk De Ketelaere

Malta’s water resources are among the scarcest in the world and under severe stress. Introduction Malta, in fact, has the lowest water resources index and the highest water competition index in the whole of the Mediterranean. With annual rainfall of around 560 mm and a high population density Malta’s renewable water resources amount to only 58 cubic metres of water per person per year. The European Union considers any country with less than 2,000 cubic metres per capita per year as having “very low” water resources. The First Paradigm. - Water as a Basic Commodity Malta remembers well the situation of the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s where many households were deprived of a water supply for days in a row, and availability of quality water at adequate pressure was a privilege for the few. The nation

took this on as a priority, investing heavily in a reverse osmosis programme, starting off with the construction of the Ghar Lapsi plant (1982), among the world’s largest reverse osmosis plants at the time. By the mid 1990’s, and the completion of a fifth reverse osmosis plant at Pembroke, the problem of water supply was solved, albeit with vast quantities of water being pumped into an ageing network creating an unaccounted-for water value that exceeded 65% at one point in time, and taking up as much as 10% of the country’s national energy supply. The consumer had a water supply… but at a high cost to the nation indeed! The Second Paradigm. - Efficiency in Water Use (or Doing Things Right!) From the late 90’s to the early 21st century, the country woke up to the spiralling cost of energy and to the challenges of its own resource

August 2012

Issue No. 42

In Search of Excellence in Water Management (cont.)

limitations. The Water Services Corporation invested heavily in a range of initiatives aimed at increasing water efficiency, albeit in a non-integrated manner. Water leakage was reduced to a fifth of its initial value, placing Malta as one of the best practice nations in this regard. New metering schemes, efficient pumping techniques and energy recovery mechanisms allowed for water to be provided at less and less cost, with increasing revenue recovery for the providers concerned. Reverse osmosis achieved a production efficiency of below 3.6KWHr/m3, an extremely low value by any international standard. But the question still remained… were the stakeholders really talking to each other? With the Water Services Corporation disposing of millions of cubic metres of treated wastewater into the sea, with private borehole users extracting even larger quantities of groundwater from the aquifers, causing salinity in the depleting aquifers to reach alarming levels… this does not appear to be the case! The Third Paradigm. - Effectiveness of Water Management (Or Doing the Right Thing!) Effective water management is often referred to as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). The IWRM concept is based upon the following 3 dimensions: 1) management for multiple purposes (i.e. domestic, agriculture, industry, tourism, aquifer recharge and protection of ecological habitats…), 2) management for multiple objectives (i.e. economic productivity, environmental quality, social equity, human health…), and 3) use of multiple means (i.e. physical structures, regulations, economic incentives…). More than anything else, it demands that the key decision makers understand water as the scarce resource that it truly is… encouraging, supporting and even forcing the various stakeholders to work together, so that sustainability is truly achieved. The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA

Environmental Report, 2012) of the (draft) Water Policy for the Maltese Islands (2010) observes that the policy fails to achieve an IWRM approach. To compensate for this, the SEA report places an emphasis on a) the implementation of effective governance mechanisms, complemented by b) adequate monitoring programmes. The Malta Water Association considers that the Water Policy is intrinsically weak in setting clear responsibilities, targets and timeframes for the key implementers concerned. Taking one from a plethora of examples, Policy Area 2, Measure 2.3 (and subsets) clearly places the responsibility on the Malta Resources Authority (MRA) to manage groundwater extraction, but fails entirely to mention extraction targets, apportionment figures, monitoring regimes, realistic implementation timeframes, and so on. Compounding this issue is the fact that very little use has been made of: a) vital knowledge on past water management successes/ failures on the Island, b) international best practice techniques within the water sector, c) international performance indicators used within the water industry, d) international benchmarks. For example, Policy Area 4, Measure 4.1 (and also Measure 11.1) states the ‘optimization of operation of desalination plants’ with an ongoing timeframe and under the responsibility of the Water Services Corporation (WSC). So… is the present production of RO water by the WSC at some 3.6KWHr/m3 comparable to best practice? If not, what are the short and possibly long range efficiency targets? What level of investment or effort will be used to achieve these target/s? All these questions remain unanswered. Conclusion The IWRM philosophy can only be achieved by having one entity or institution that is fully

August 2012

Issue No. 42

In Search of Excellence in Water Management (cont.)

responsible for all of the socio-economicenvironmental issues relating to water. It means promoting a chain of integrated measures that collectively lead towards water sustainability. It means devising a national agricultural policy with sustainable water use requirements. It means an effective integration also with storm water and sewerage master plans. It means efficiently treating wastewater to provide an alternative to groundwater for irrigation, aquifer recharge and possibly other usages. It means fair and reasonable tariffs for water, treated wastewater, and groundwater, incorporating the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;polluter paysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; principle. It means gaining acceptance through education and raising public awareness. It means constant technological innovation, with a respect for what has worked efficiently in the past. It means looking at international best practice, and learning/trialing and then implementing where appropriate. The Malta Water Association considers that a National Water Policy should encompass all of these themes and measures, for it to be duly equipped to address the prevailing and climate chance concerns. ET

References Adi Associates.2012. National Water Policy for Malta, 2010. Strategic environmental assessment. Environmental report. Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs. 2010. A proposal for a Water Policy for the Maltese Islands. Water Services Corporation. Annual reports.

Eng. Dirk De Ketelaere

August 2012

Issue No. 42

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Science Impact on Tomorrow’s Urban Structures

by Dipl.-Ing. Michael Bucher

Fraunhofer – Sustainable Technologies for Morgenstadt. The joint research project Morgenstadt: City Insights systematically creates insights into key factors and conditions for a successful transition of cities to highly efficient sustainable systems of urban life. It identifies the requirements for the urban markets of the future and enables new collaborations of industry, research and administrations. By this it will create the fundament for the development of innovative concepts and products that help to tackle technical and organizational challenges in the smart cities of tomorrow. Fields of Research – Urban Systems For achieving this, the project analyzes the five most important technology sectors of the city of tomorrow with respect to best practices, groundbreaking pathways and existing challenges and innovation barriers that have to be overcome. As facilitator to the organization of city-systems, governance represents a keyscope of the analysis. In addition, the field of security, representing a genuinely crosssectional system of importance for all other sectors, will be analyzed in detail. • Mobility. How can the masses of people in tomorrow’s cities be moved most effectively by at the same time assuring quality of life and zero impact on the environment? Highly efficient mass transit systems like in Hong Kong or emission free mobility-on-demand solutions represent some of the groundbreaking solutions to be analyzed and developed further. • Energy. The future city will not depend on fossil energy. Renewable energies, energy efficient technologies and communicating energy grids will become the drive-train of tomorrow’s cities. But where will the energy

be produced? Already today energy-plushouses produce more green energy than they need. Integrated community energy solutions that link houses, wind- and solar parks, biomass sites and electric vehicles can be a starting point for an integrated urban energy system of the future. • Communications. Already today technologies exist that enable communication between devices, buildings, vehicles and people. Geographic information processing, wireless internet and smartphone technology possess almost infinite potential for the development of smart solutions for urban systems. Some cities like Qatar or Mannheim already try to make use of this potential and thereby provide the framework for innovative businesslogistic- and transportation processes • Buildings. There are several groundbreaking technologies that allow buildings to communicate with their environment, to produce more energy than they consume and to work with light, biomass and air from the local environment. In a future city these technologies will be integrated into systems that allow groups of buildings to create closed cycles of energy- and material flows and to shape the micro climate of a city. • Resources. The big challenge of future urban systems is the smart and sustainable use of resources. Full integration of advanced recycling techniques into urban material flows and the holistic use of cradle-to-cradle systems for production and consumption will be imperative for the sustainable megacity of tomorrow. This also implies innovations in product design with a highest possible share of biodegradable

August 2012

Issue No. 42

Science Impact on Tomorrow’s Urban Structures (cont.)

materials or recyclable product concepts. Learning from inspiring cities will provide for the basis of future urban resource cycles. • Governance. A new urban paradigm needs efficient governance concepts that enable participation and acknowledge the complexity of systems innovation. Frontrunners like Zurich, Copenhagen, Amsterdam or Sydney are already working with systems that integrate citizens into decision structures and create smart collaborations between city administrations, innovative companies and research institutes. 1. Water System Competences Connected With regard to issues related to water, the Fraunhofer Water Alliance “SysWasser” focuses on transferring sustainable system solutions for water recovery, infrastructure and wastewater purification into practice oriented applications without neglecting the social, economic and ecological consequences involved. At the same time, water – as a resource - is systematically cross-linked to the fields of energy, waste management and agriculture where it is also highly relevant. In this way, the Alliance and its participating 14 institutes shall play an active role in meeting of the United Nations’ Millenium Development Goals viz. to half the percentage of the world’s population which has no reliable access to safe drinkiing water and appropriate sanitary facilities. The working areas are grouped into three main clusters:

3.1 Water Utilization 1. Drinking Water Water forms the basis of all life on earth and is the foremost primary basic foodstuff for all kinds of civilization. This is why very high standards are set for the quality of drinking water. It must not damage people’s health so that strict regulations must be adhered to as regards chemical components and microbial composition. It must be free of germs and chemical materials which can cause illness. It should also be colourless, clear, cool, odorless and good to taste. The main purpose of water infrastructure systems is to treat raw water and distribute good quality water to municipal and industrial areas. 95% of Germany’s drinking water comes from central water suppliers and 70% is recovered from surface water or bank filtration. Approaches for the reduction of water consumption are investigated and transferred into practice. 2. Process Water There is no need for the use of drinking quality water for all purposes in private households and industrial plants. Especially in the industrial sector, untreated raw water, rainwater or treated greywater or wastewater would be fully sufficient for the fulfillment of many purposes. What kind of pre-treatment is needed depends on the subsequent use of the respective water. A differenciation is required e.g. according to hygenic standards without traces of contamination for agricultural purposes, whereas for cooling applications a much lower standard is adequate. Generally speaking, if water is to be re-used

August 2012

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Science Impact on Tomorrow’s Urban Structures (cont.)

it is necessary to remove all solids and fats beforehand. Organic carbons (COD – chemical oxygen demand, BOD – biochemical oxygen demand must always be extracted from polluted wastewater.

resources should be used as drinking water or for agricultural purposes. To tackle this problem, the Alliances’ experts are working on watersaving irrigation technologies and developing concepts for re-using water to irrigate fields.

Innovative, adapted technologies for recovering, storing and re-using wastewater residual heat are also becoming more and more popular especially as the costs for energy are increasing.

4. Rain Water

3. Irrigation Many regions of the world are faced with the dilemma of deciding whether scarce water

Rainwater can be retained and mixed with drinking water for softening using adapted reservoir technologies with relevant filtration and treatment technologies. It is also easy to turn rainwater into drinking water (which already is a favourable method for obtaining water in many regions). Drinking water contains natural components which not only make it

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safe for consumption but are also important for human nutrition (e.g. calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, hydrocarbonate, sulfate and chloride). These have to be added to rainwater as salts before it can be used as drinking water. The same holds true for water generated from atmospheric humidity. 3.2 Water Treatment The Fraunhofer Water Systems Alliance has several different technologies at various stages of development at its disposal for treating water and purifying industrial wastewater – either for re-use in the production process (wastewater recycling) or for direct discharge. These technologies were developed in separate Fraunhofer institutes but are used by the entire Alliance as technology modules for developing both optimized system solutions and individual solutions. Together with its valuable past experience on water infrastructures, systems control, measurement technologies, automation and resource management, these new technologies enable the Alliance to develop skillful master plans and put these into action. For this purpose, the Alliance uses conventional methods as well as innovative future-oriented technology modules, some of which are depicted in the following. 1. Membrane Separation Technologies The services offered cover the entire spectrum of membrane technologies from micro- and nano- filtration right through to reverse osmosis • Micro sieves • Ceramic membranes

2. Ultrasonics • Sewage sludge desintegration • Cleaning membranes with ultrasonic sound 3. Electrophysical Precipitation Electrophysical precipitation dissolves ions and hydroxides in water out of a sacrificial anode material made of iron or aluminium. The ions form hydroxides which facilitate the separation of extremely small small solid particles, often found in stable emulsions and suspensions, by means of adsorption, precipitation or floccultation. At the same time, water is cleaved on the surface of the electrodes into highly-reactive radicals which create numerous secondary reactions with water components leading to a decrease in chemical oxygen demand (COD). These oxidation processes can also be used for disinfecting. 4. Evaporation Technologies Thermal processes are used to desalinate and concentrate seawater, brackish water and industrial process water. In this field, the Alliance is concentrating on optimizing processes which make use of secondary waste heat from industrial sources or which can be operated on energy from renewable sources such as e.g. low temperature solar systems. • Thermal solar membrane destillation • Solar desalination of seawater with a gravitation - supported vacuum evaporation plant • Generating drinking water from humidity

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Issue No. 42

biometrics evolved features...

Tel: 21241111 Fax: 21243706 Email: hydrolectric@hydrolectric.com.mt

Science Impact on Tomorrow’s Urban Structures (cont.)

5. Oxidation of pollutants and germs The Alliance has developed various oxidation processes for sterilizing water and removing persistent or toxic pollutants as well as trace contamination (also called micropollutants) safely and effectively e.g. from the process waters of chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Together with the production of biogas, phase change slurry and photovoltaic-run reverse osmosis are good examples for successful developments in these fields. Components of measurements technologies which are selfsufficient as far as energy is concerned also play a major part in modern water management systems. 3.3 Water Management

• Electrochemical oxidation • Ozonization • UV oxidation

A further large working area is the field of water management in technological terms speaking of

6. Biological Treatment • Optimizing wastewater treatment plants both for municipal and industrial applications • High-load digestion: Less sewage – more energy: shorter residence times (5-7 days), higher organic volume load, improved degree of degradatio, less foam formation, increased biogas yield, better drainage of residual sludge, smaller amounts of sludge, cost savings for sludge disposal. • Anaerobic biological purification of highly polluted wastewater • Recycling nutrients 7. Energy Efficient and Self-Efficient Solutions

• process measurement technology, • plant automation, • process simulation as well as systemic approaches for sustainable infrastructures. ET

One of the specialities of the structure and the content of the Alliance’s work is its focus on combining efficient energy systems with efficient water infrastructure systems. The Alliance works on using the physical and chemical energy found in water and on developing water infrastructure systems which are more energy-efficient or even provide more their own energy.

Editor’s note: This paper was abridged because of space limitations. Readers who wish to see the full paper are requested to contact the editor on info@coe.org.mt

Dipl.- Ing. Michael Bucher

August 2012

Issue No. 42

New Intelligent Lighting Systems Available from Hydrolectric Limited Project Profile

Willis Building Located oposite Lloyds of London this 491,000sq ft building consists of a 29 storey tower and an adjacent ten storey building. Both landlords and tenant areas use Prolojik DALI addressable lighting controls. The Lighting Control System was installed and configured in a relatively short timescale using 3,300 pre addressed DALI devices and PC100 series commissioning remote controls. The prolojik system provides a reliable, flexible control solution for the reception, meeting rooms, individual rooms, open plan offices and in the theatre. The building has been provided with emergency monitoring using DALI addressable emergency monitoring sensors and multi-sensors, dimming and scene setting in meeting rooms, interfaces with AV systems and theatre DMX controlled lighting. Lighting controls have are been intergrated with the BMS system for setback on unoccupied areas and scene loadshedding. Utilising peer to peer communication over an open protocol network.

Prolojik products utilised: • PN400 Network controllers • PN300 DMX Interface • BACnet/LonWorks gateway • PC530 DALI Master Hubs • PS330 DALI Multi Sensors • EM30 DALI Emergency Monitoring Sensors • PL511 Pluggable Lighting controllers • PL541 DSI Pluggable Lighting controllers • PL413 Lighting controllers • PL433 DALI Lighting controllers • PC600 Scene Setting • PV360 Web Based Supervisor

Key features: • Fully Addressable DALI lighting controls • Presence Detection & Daylight Linking • DMX Controlled Theatre Lighitng • Web-enabled supervisor • AV and BMS System Interfaces

For more information or to arrange a meeting with Hydrolectric, please contact: Mr. Michel Le Brun, Technical Sales Executive at Hydrolectric Ltd Tel. 2124 1111 or 7985 5983 e-Mail Michel.lebrun@hydrolectric.com.mt

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Providing Germ Free Drinking Water by Ing. Michael D’Amato

The scope of my presentation is three-fold. I will start with information on water itself to appreciate better such important commodity. Then I will review different methods of water disinfection evaluating their effectiveness with a closer look to Chlorine Dioxide process. In our first slide we note that though water is most abundant and that it covers three quarters of earth’s surface, yet less than 1% exists as fresh water. Water is so important to life that life cannot exist without it. Again, water is a simple molecule but with remarkable properties.

start adjoining and water expands, so ice is only formed at top of lakes and seas. This protects the life below its frozen surface. Water exists naturally as solid form as ice, liquid and vapour or steam. Water is very versatile for use in our daily lives as cleaning agent as the hydrogen bonding also hydrates other solid crystals easily and so removes dirt. Water is known as a universal solvent. Finally we mention how water can move across membranes controlling living cells and also allows desalination by reverse osmosis. The special features in water make what it is! Measurements in Water chemistry include: pH relating to concentration of the Hydrogen Ion in Logarithmic form, 0 to 14, with 7.0 as neutral; Total Dissolved Solids, expressed as TDS, referring to the dissolved salts in that water. Conductivity is a quick measure of the dissolved ions in that water. This measure is more for comparing different waters as it does not specify the different ions in the water. Water Hardness refers to the scale forming salts of Calcium and Magnesium, while water alkalinity is a measure of bicarbonate content, relating to the corrosiveness of the water. Other terms include Suspended Solids, Electrolytes, Oxidation Potential, Organic Solubility and measures of Stability Indexes – Langelier and Ryznar referring to the scale forming natures of that particular water.

It is an Asymmetrical Dipolar Molecule as shown in the attached diagram. This gives rise to symmetrical charges on both its sides resulting in hydrogen bonding which contributes to special capabilities. Its surface tension and capillary actions, for example enables water to travel up plant stems. At lower temperature than 4 DegC, the hydrogen bonds

The bacteriological nature of drinking water is regulated locally by L.N.17 of 2009 – Food Safety Act where we have parameters of maximum bacteriological activity in drinking waters. There has to be 0 bacteria count as regards to E-Coli and Enterocci, while total counts have to be very low.

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Providing Germ Free Drinking Water (cont.)

L.N. 5 of 2006 of Public Health Act 2008 regulates control of Legionella and defines ways to control and the different actions to be taken is such case as Legionella exceeds certain limits.. As per law regulations, Water systems are to be periodically tested by independent laboratories for positive qualification. Introducing ProMinent / ProMaqua. ProMaqua is the Water Treatment business part of the ProMinent group of Heidekberg, Germany, and this company offers wide range of solutions in Water Treatment. Among most popular, it serves the Food & Beverage Industry, Potable Water Supplies, Hotels and Resorts, Cooling Water Disinfection and Legionella Prevention. The key issue of ProMaqua is its expertise in water disinfection. Care is also taken for the removal of impurities as well as stabilising the water to prevent corrosion.

Table showing Comparison of Disinfectants

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One has to distinguish between Disinfection and Sterilisation. The latter is the total abolition of microbiological contamination, more for the pharmaceutical industry. Whereas Disinfection deals with the reduction of microbiological contamination for drinking water in order to comply with say the L.N.17- Food Safety Act. In our discussion we will be dealing with the disinfection of water and not sterilisation. We now present a table of comparisons on the effects of different disinfections processes and this way we can have a more complete picture as to the strength or capacity of the process. We can see Ozone is the strongest as it has a very high oxidation potential however it has a low depot or after effect as it quickly decomposes into oxygen.

Chlorine and UV are of medium strength but chlorine is very pH dependent and limited in certain cases. Chlorine also produces chlorinated organics as by-products such as THMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and AOX. Ultra-filtration is also a strong process but costly in terms of equipment and energy. Chlorine dioxide has the advantage of being a strong disinfectant with a depot effect of few days and this makes it a very adequate application for most drinking and process water applications. An important concern is where Biofilms are concerned as biofilms harbour lots of bacteria beneath their surfaces; chlorine does not penetrate biofilms and disinfecting is not done. The system is again soon contaminated even after a super-chlorination process has taken place. We now have a look at the processes themselves and the equipment involved: Ozone Plants Ozone is a molecule with 3 oxygen atoms combined, very strong oxidant as it is very unstable as ozone, and therefore a strong disinfectant. It is soluble in water and therefore very adequate in treating bottled water as it then quickly decomposes to oxygen. The sealed bottles would then have a long shelf live and meet stringent health standards. ProMaqua produces Ozonfilt and Bonozon types of Ozone generating plants. Ozone is produced as a gas by a high voltage electric arc in the presence of dried air or enriched oxygen. This gas is then drawn under vacuum condition to be dissolved in water inside a Dissolving Tank. The ozonated water is then fed to the process with a value of about 0.3 or 0.4 ppm ozone to act as an

instant disinfectant. The dissolving process is a function of ozone concentration in the gas phase as well as water temperature. Therefore for correct plant sizing both factors have to be considered. As said the stability of the ozone solution is short term, this means the Half Time of ozone is less than one hour. This is why ozone will then not be suitable for open water systems. Ultra Violet Systems Ultra Violet units use a particular wavelength of 254 nm to affect a kill dose on bacteria. This is achieved by altering the DNA of the bacteria causing their inability to reproduce. Plants come in various sizes and configurations up to 1,500 cm/h. Applications vary from drinking water to process water, swimming pools, waste water and salt water. In latter case systems housings are made out of polyethylene to act against corrosion. Main advantages of UV are that the water is not treated with chemicals, no influence to taste or smell. Systems are relatively low cost and little maintenance is required. On the other hand, UV has no after effect and therefore open water systems are not adequately protected. The dependence of the germicidal effectiveness of UV is the wavelength applied, most effective is that in the range of UVC, at 254nm. Major components in a UV plant is the UV chamber itself which should be designed to cause a turbulence for homogenous radiation, the UVC burner itself with a lifetime of about 10,000 hours, the control panel with high voltage transformer and a UVC sensor for process monitoring. Water treated with UV needs to be pre-filtered.

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Providing Germ Free Drinking Water (cont.)

Chlorine Dioxide Systems Chlorine Dioxide is widely used today in many water disinfecting applications, including drinking water, food & beverage, wastewater, cooling towers and Legionella prevention. Plants come in different sizes but with same configuration to produce chlorine dioxide gas on site and dissolve it in water. Chlorine dioxide is a combination of one Chlorine atom to two Oxygen atoms with an unpaired electron which has the high oxidation power to disinfect. The gas is soluble in water independent of pH and therefore effective in wide range of waters, also with long after effect. Its main advantage is that it kills and removes bio-films and therefore

very effective in maintaining a clean system. It also penetrates cellular membranes to kill the bacteria. As compared to chlorine and bromine, it remains effective over a wide range of pH with high activity, so suitable in areas where pH of drinking water is high. Contact time is very low as well, that guarantees very effective disinfection, within 10 minutes at a dosage of 0.3ppm, all bacteria is removed. The chemical advantage with ClO2 is that is does not chlorinate as it only acts as an oxidant! It does not form THMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s or Chloroform and therefore avoids some toxic by-products as in

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the case of chlorine. Therefore ClO2 is more suitable for drinking water systems as well. One has to control the dose of ClO2 due to the chlorite content in water. Bio-films are a major threat in water systems as they harbour bacteria such as E-coli and Legionella. Bio-films are also very resistant against disinfectants and only ozone and ClO2 are able to kill biofilms and remove the bacteria they otherwise protect. For this reason chlorine dioxide is very effective to treat older systems of drinking water tanks and pipelines. Chorine Dioxide is produced by controlled mixing of two chemicals, Sodium Chlorite (NaClO2) and Hydrochloric Acid (HCl). No Chlorine is produced and reaction is 90% pro-active. The plants comprise mainly of two chemical dosing stations all in a built-up cabinet. Dosing rates are precisely controlled and monitored for safety and these meet in a PVDF reactor where ClO2 gas is produced and put into a water concentrated solution to be later fed into the main stream at a dosage of 0.4ppm. The whole process is well controlled as ClO2 gas is explosive, so trained and authorised personnel handle such equipment. However ProMaqua Chlorine Dioxide units are very reliable in design and operation.

Bello Zon CDVc for Diluted Chemicals

In Malta we have systems installed in few hotels and factories with very good results, however Chlorine dioxide should be given more priority. During the last 2 years of operation of St. Luke’s Hospital Chlorine Dioxide systems were installed with very successful results on a 50 year old building. Unfortunately the new hospital does not incorporate ClO2 in its design but now there is interest to do so. We include a typical Chorine Dioxide installation at the Karen Grech Hospital to explain show such systems can be retro-fitted into an existing system. We also show a monthly report showing chlorine dioxide reserve and total oxidants values recorded there. ET Editor’s note: This paper was abridged because of space limitations. Readers who wish to see the full paper are requested to contact the editor on info@coe.org.mt

Ing. Michael D’Amato

August 2012

Issue No. 42

Ing. Saviour Baldacchino, COE President, introduces the conference

Minister Mario Demarco delivers the keynote speech

Prof. Avi Ostfeld came over from Israel to deliver his paper

Ing. Marco Cremona delivers his paper

Geoffrey Saliba on setting benchmarks

Eng. Dirk de Ketelaere from the Malta Water Association

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The conference was ably compered by television presenter Pauline Agius

Ing. Paul Refalo is concerned on water scarcity

Dipl.-Ing. Michael Bucher of the Fraunhofer Institute

Chamber President Ing. Saviour Baldacchino chairs the discussion

Ing. Mario Schembri answers a question on the SCADA system

Ing. Marco Cremona raises a point

The discussion continues during the break

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Case Study: The AIS SCADA System by Ing. Mario Schembri

Controlling all of Malta and Gozo’s potable water and wastewater distribution networks. Abstract SCADA, standing for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, refers to process control and data gathering hardware and software. SCADA is used widely in industry in diverse applications such as factory wide automation, power plants, oil and gas refining, telecommunications, transportation, as well as in water and waste control. By monitoring critical processes in real time, SCADA alerts personnel when conditions become hazardous and takes corrective action either automatically or through personnel intervention. Combined with wireless communication such as radio and GPRS, SCADA brings to the forefront the ability for managers to control remote and unattended sites at all times from the comfort of their offices. AIS Ltd. has successfully implemented two SCADA systems for the Water Services Corporation, one for potable water and the other for waste water. The state-of-the-art monitoring and control system covers all operations of WSC across the two islands’ whole drainage pumping network. This system follows another one by AIS for domestic water distribution, which was commissioned six years ago. With this technology, the WSC is able to monitor and control all operations throughout the Maltese islands. From the WSC control centre in Luqa, staff can monitor and control around sixty pumping stations in various localities in Malta and Gozo. Many of these stations are in remote locations not accessible by a standard communication line such as ADSL. AIS Ltd. has overcome this problem by providing wireless data links over UHF radio. This is a cheap, reliable and maintenance-free communication system, which links the outstations to the Luqa Control Centre through communications base stations. Besides control, this powerful system

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monitors pump faults, generator faults, sewage flow, energy consumption, power cuts, and a lot more. Most importantly, the control centre can monitor sewage levels in all the network cesspits on a twenty-four hour basis, meaning that accidental sewage outflows are a thing of the past. Thus the system is helping to maintain our bays clean and safe. Introduction Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems are Process Control Systems, specifically designed to automate systems such as water management, power management, telecoms, waste processing and petroleum refining.

Components of a SCADA System A typical SCADA consists of one or more remote terminal units (RTU) connected to a variety of sensors and actuators, and relaying information to a master station. The Master Station The term “Master Station” refers to the servers and software responsible for communicating with the field equipment (RTUs, PLCs, etc.), and then to the Human Machine Interface software running on workstations in the control room, or elsewhere.

In smaller SCADA systems, the master station may be composed of a single PC. In larger SCADA systems such as our Water Services Corporation SCADA, the master station includes multiple servers, a number of operator workstations and distributed software applications.

similarity to standard electrical circuits. A RTU that employs this ladder logic programming is called a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). PLCs have now become the standard in control systems. Communication Infrastructure

Master stations have three main functions; • They periodically obtain data from RTUs/ PLCs (and other master or sub-master stations) • They control remote devices through the operator station • Duties include trending, alarm handling, logging, archiving, report generation, and facilitation of automation. These duties may be distributed across multiple PCs, either standalone or networked. Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) Multiple Remote Terminal Units (also known as RTUs or Outstations). The RTU connects to physical equipment, and reads status data such as the open/closed status from a switch or a valve, reads measurements such as pressure, flow, voltage or current. By sending signals to equipment the RTU can control equipment, such as opening or closing a switch or a valve, or setting the speed of a pump. Advances in CPUs and the programming capabilities of RTUs have allowed for more sophisticated monitoring and control. Applications that had previously been programmed at the central master station can now be programmed at the RTU. These modern RTUs typically use a ladderlogic approach to programming due to its

SCADA systems have traditionally used combinations of radio and direct serial or modem connections to meet communication requirements, although Ethernet and IP over SONET is also frequently used at large sites such as railways and power stations. Most protocols now contain extensions to operate over TCP/IP Sensors and Actuators The philosophy behind control systems can be summed up by the phrase “If you can measure it, you can control it.” Sensors perform measurement, and actuators perform control. Sensors get the data (supervision and data acquisition) and actuators perform actions dependent on this data (control). The processing and determination of what action to take, is done by the master control system (i.e. SCADA). Our company has utilised a wide range of measurement instrumentation in our various projects. Our innovative products deliver costeffective solutions that feature world class performance and our experienced, in-house engineering team can integrate the products into state-of-the-art solutions. Our instrumentation portfolio consists of digital and analogue input and output modules for the most common field data interface devices installed in a SCADA system and include;

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Energy telemanagement Energy telemanagement EDS. EDS. Energy Energy manager manager

Ideal for customers with multiple sites Ideal for customers with multiple sites No need to use a computer. No need to use a computer.

The system can be used for the The system can be used for the autonomous measurement, autonomous measurement, supervision and control of the supervision and control of the energy consumption energy consumption

N FF

Embedded • Alarm log web server • Records Alarm log the parameters of equipment • Records theconnected parameterstoofthe system equipment connected to the system XML server • Built-in

• Built-in XML server

Reactive energy Reactive energy compensation compensation

E AT L IM RO CL NT CO TE MA OL LI R N C NT O O FF C O O

• Built-in PowerStudio web server • Embedded Built-in PowerStudio

IP A

dd IP A re s s ddr ess

8 Digital inputs / 8 Digital impulses inputs / impulses

RS-485

Internet Internet

RS-485

Clock Internal Clock

CVM NET

Internal

CVM NET

Fire detection

Air-conditioning

Fire detection

Air-conditioning

CVM NET

EDS EDS

Water meter

CVM NET

Water meter Lighting Lighting

6 digital 6 digital outputs outputs

Presence sensor

CVM NET

Presence sensor

CVM NET

Other loads Door sensor Door sensor

Earth leakage Earth leakage protection protection

Electrical parameter Electrical parameter measurement measurement CBS-4

WGS

CBS-4

WGS

Other loads

Case Study: The AIS SCADA System (cont.)

Reservoir level meters, Water flow meters, Valve position transmitters, Temperature transmitters, Power consumption meters, and Pressure meters. The AIS SCADA System Water Services Corporation Water and Wastewater SCADA Systems The AIS SCADA Telemetry system is based on the GE Fanuc Intelligent Platform. This system gathers data from a country wide network of stations, relaying all information to the Luqa control room.

The SCADA system provides real-time data capture via an integrated network of broadband, radio and telephony from reverse osmosis plants, water reservoirs, ground water sources and pumping stations. The system provides

35,000 points of data capture covering the Maltese Islands and allows various methods of alarm notification. A PLC by GE Intelligent Platforms is installed at the remote site, and provides the stationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall philosophy of operation, including such things as the pump sequence, failure procedures, etc. This program was custom developed by AIS in line with specific requirements set out by WSC. The system provides full monitoring and control from the Water Services control room in Luqa, which may override the automatic settings present at the pumping station. Two SCADA server computers operating in standby redundancy mode log continuously the data being gathered onto an SQL database.

Thanks to this redundancy server, which avoids downtime and prevents the loss of data, this system has been operating successfully since 2003.

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Case Study: The AIS SCADA System (cont.)

Control Room personnel have full monitoring capability thanks to user friendly mimic screens on several client PCs. Reports, alarm handling, historical charting, running hours logging and several other features are available.

security of SCADA systems also contribute to significant long-term savings. Future trends in SCADA Once criticized for being vulnerable to cyber terrorism attacks, recent improvements in secure architectures and configurations have made modern SCADA systems safer and more reliable. Given the mission critical nature of a large number of SCADA systems, the lack of realtime data could, in a worst case scenario, cause massive financial losses through loss of data or actual physical destruction, misuse or theft, even loss of life.

Furthermore, our in house IT capabilities enable us to integrate our systems into existing client applications, significantly reducing investment costs and reducing the need for re-training personnel. Economic Advantage of a SCADA System Since the SCADA system is automatically monitoring the system and transmitting any alarms that may occur, the need to have standby personnel stationed at each outstation is greatly reduced. Operator travel time is similarly substantially decreased.

Such concerns, are moving engineers towards the implementation of SCADA systems wherever the need for real time monitoring and control of any system is required and most technical people believe that the overall financial and security benefits of SCADA based systems still greatly outweigh any potential risks. ET Editor’s note: This paper was abridged because of space limitations. Readers who wish to see the full paper are requested to contact the editor on info@coe.org.mt

Early warning alarms also mean that time to intervention is decreased and equipment breakdowns leading to costly repairs are also minimised. SCADA systems also offer improved accuracy and efficiency as instrument readings are completely automated and no longer rely on ‘human’ intervention which is inherently prone to error. The increased reliability, safety and

August 2012

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Ing. Mario Schembri Chairman, AIS Group of Companies

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