In the context of European sustainability policies, theefficiency of buildings plays a role of primary importance. The majority of emissions produced by buildings arise from inadequate energy efficiency: specifically, buildings are responsible for 36% of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from energy consumption, as well as 40% of final energy consumption, according to data of the European Commission.
The resource management within buildings – from heating to lighting, to water management – will have to be revised within a few years to ensure greater energy efficiency. In fact, by 2028, the EU’s “Fit for 55” plan has established that all public buildings must be zero-emission, while by 2030 all new buildings will have to adapt to this target.
However, in contexts where certain natural resources are in themselves scarce – precisely due to the characteristics of the territory, the use of intelligent technologies has already made it possible to reach the “zero emissions” objective, as demonstrated by the project created by ifm for the “Princess Elisabeth Antarctica” research station in Antarctica.
A zero-emission research station in Antarctica
Due to the difficult meteorological conditions – ice up to 5000 meters thick, average annual temperature of -55 degrees centigrade, almost 6 months of darkness – Antarctica is probably the most inhospitable place where man can settle permanently. Yet researchers regularly travel to the South Pole to work in various research fields such as glaciology, climate research, microbiology and geology, in order to gain a better understanding of the world.
To facilitate the polar search and at the same time protect the environmentthe International Polar Foundation (IPF) created, in collaboration with the Belgian government and numerous private partners, the “Princess Elisabeth Antarctica” research station.
The station, opened in 2009, is the first and so far only research station in Antarctica that operates without emissions. The structure is inhabited four months a year, in the eight winter months it continues to work autonomously, collects research data and transmits it via satellite to Belgium.
The electricity needed to operate the system is produced with the power of the wind and the sun. Snow and ice provide the water needed by researchers and technicians. And it is precisely in the production and treatment of water that a great responsibility lies.
“To achieve zero emissions in water management, it is essential to restore the purity of water extracted from snow after it has been used and before it is returned to nature. In fact, this is the only way to truly close the water cycle and keep our influence on Antarctic nature reduced,” explains Aymar de Lichtervelde, the engineer responsible for the project.
Improvements in water management of the Antarctic station: a new water treatment plant
In order to be able to ensure this permanently in the future as well, a new water treatment plant.
The upgrade of the station was also necessary to ensure the same efficiency as the number of people the facility must accommodate increases. The station was in fact built to accommodate up to 16 people. However, the current capacity reaches 40/50 people in the summer months.
“We calculate a daily water requirement of around 50 liters per person. It is three times lower than the average household consumption in Europe. It is important to point this out, because as in the case of energy, the first step is always to reduce consumption. The next step concerns water production: we produce 60% of our water from nature by melting snow, enriching it with minerals and then transforming it into drinking water. 40% is reused from purified wastewater“, Spiega de Lichtervelde.
This high percentage of reused water is due to the new treatment plant; previously it was possible to reuse only 20% of the water. The growth reflects positively on the energy needed by the station: it is necessary for recycling ten times less energy than it takes to melt snow.
30 grams of dry sludge remain on 55 liters of industrial water. De Lichtervelde that they can now treat 100% of gray and black water produced in the plant to reintroduce them into the internal cycle or return them to nature as purified water.
Since Antarctica is not a country, there are no defined standards regarding the quality of water they can introduce. The Madrid Protocol defines a series of best practices to be observed, but does not establish quantitative standards.
“Therefore, we orient ourselves on the recommendations of the World Health Organization regarding drinking water. This is an environmentally ambitious basis and beneficial for our business, as we can reuse water without any problems of comfort or user acceptance.”, he adds.
The other data is also impressive: the treatment plant is capable of transform 55 liters of gray and black water into 54 liters of ultrapure water. Every day 30 grams of dry mud remain, while the rest evaporates. The mud is collected and exported after a few years to South Africa, where it is burned.
The added value of ifm flow sensors
“All of this can only be achieved sustainably if the system works perfectly,” adds de Lichtervelde. “For this reason two years ago, when we started designing the new water treatment plant, we decided to use technology that was easy to maintain and easy to replace in the event of an emergency. The moment we started to delve deeper into the discussion IO-Linkit was clear to us that we wanted to use this technology to integrate the sensors into the system, as for us it is an added value in many respects”.
IO-Link is a point-to-point communication system in which sensors transmit their data to a master, which in turn forwards it to a fieldbus level. Instead of laying cables from each sensor to the control cabinet in classic analog cabling, the sensor signals can be collected decentralized by field IO-Link masters and forwarded to the higher field level as a single package.
The use of ifm field IO-Link masters allows you to significantly reduce cabling work. Another advantage of this technology: the parameters of the individual sensors can be saved on the respective master. If a defective sensor is replaced by an identical one, the parameters are automatically transmitted to the new device.
“For us this is very valuable, as the replacement can be carried out on site, quickly and easily. In case of doubt, even by non-technicians,” explains de Lichtervelde.
Princess Elisabeth is available to scientists only four months a year. Precious time, in which all systems must function reliably.
For this reason, steps have been taken to completely install and intensively test the new system in Belgium. Later, everything was broken down into smaller components for shipping by sea.
“The IO-Link principle was also very useful in this case, as thanks to the standardized M12 connectors the rewiring took place on site without errors and in a short time,” comments de Lichtervelde.
The new plant, made up of two redundant systemsis equipped among other things with SM flow sensors from the ifm specialist. In addition to the current flow rate, this sensor also detects the total flow rate and fluid temperature. All values are clearly shown on the display.
Upon request, a color change from red to green indicates whether the values are within the expected range or not. The optimized measuring tube ensures low pressure loss, therefore the pump power can be reduced.
Furthermore, there is no need for either upstream or downstream piping. And this is a huge advantage especially in narrow spaces. Other sensors, such as valve sensors and level sensors, transmit further important information about the current state of the water treatment.
Condition monitoring of the system also via remote access
Important information not only for the control system, but also for the continuous condition monitoring: all read values are transmitted to the IT level with additional diagnostic information which document the status of each individual sensor during its stay in the station. This also allows you to have, via remote access, control of the conditions of the facility in the Antarctic winter months and to prepare the facility for use in the following research season.
With modern automation technology and IO-Link as data communication technology, the International Polar Foundation is able to ensure the always reliable water treatment in the Princess Elizabeth research station. Both on site and from Brussels, 13,500 kilometers away as the crow flies.
