After 3.5 years of research and development, the OSCAR project has been successfully completed. The aim of the project was to develop an innovative process control system for the reliable and efficient operation of wastewater and organic waste treatment on board (cruise) ships.
An analysis of the current situation on board revealed two main areas for optimising plant operation: influent management (use of existing storage tanks to match the influent to the operating conditions of the sewage treatment plant) and the biological stage of the ship's sewage treatment plant. ISAH developed observer and predictor models for the biological stage of the ship sewage treatment plant and an influent prediction model ("digital twins") to support process monitoring and analysis and to provide operational forecasts. To enable centralised remote monitoring and control of multiple plants by process experts on shore, a cloud solution was implemented by project partner SEGNO and tested at the experimental plant operated by ISAH.
The solutions developed in OSCAR allow performance optimisation and minimisation of plant failures without the need for specially trained personnel on board. The detailed wastewater characterisation and customisable system models provide a valuable basis not only for operational optimisation and staff training, but also for plant design and the development of new treatment and valorisation concepts for wastewater and organic waste on board. One such promising concept being investigated in the CLEAN uproject is the recovery of biogas from organic waste and high-strength organic wastewater streams through on-board anaerobic treatment.
A detailed account of the project results can be found in the final reports of the respective project partners (in German), which will be freely available via the TIB frei verfügbar sein werden. You can also download the ISAH report here.
Further information on the OSCAR project is available here and on the Homepage of the project (German).
We would like to thank the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) for funding the OSCAR research and development project as part of the Maritime Research Programme.
