“The challenges facing wastewater treatment plants lie in the limitations of manual operation”

Wastewater treatment plants are no longer simply disposal sites, but centers of resource management. For all types of disposal — including incineration, landfilling, and agricultural reuse—the optimal, cost-effective dewatering of sewage sludge is a key step. In practice, this means: Reducing the volume of sewage sludge to be disposed of saves on transportation costs, lowers energy consumption for disposal and incineration, and reduces CO₂ emissions. We spoke with Fabien Petrick, a mechanical engineer and product manager for digital products at GEA. He says: “The central challenge for wastewater treatment plants today lies in the limitations of manual operation.”

For decades, the decanter centrifuge has been the workhorse of sludge treatment. What makes this technology so important?

Fabien Petrick: Decanters transform unstable sewage sludge into something manageable, transportable, and compliant with standards. Day after day, year after year. Behind these challenges lies an opportunity: Decanters hold far greater performance potential waiting to be tapped. With the help of sensors, software, and intelligent automation, decanters are already achieving new levels of performance today.

What are the challenges facing every wastewater treatment plant operator today?

Fabien Petrick: Every wastewater treatment plant faces this challenge: sludge composition is constantly changing. Precipitation, temperatures, industrial discharges, and even local events can alter the characteristics of the feed within minutes. Operators respond by adjusting polymer dosing, drying targets, differential velocity, or tank depth. But these manual adjustments are always sporadic and always made after the fact. That’s reactive rather than proactive—and in today’s world, that simply isn’t enough anymore.

Has the GEA Intellicant® system achieved the digital leap?

Fabien Patrick: As early as 2023, GEA launched Intellicant, an algorithm- and cloud-based digital product. This transforms a decanter into a self-optimizing system. We have continuously refined this product. At the core of Intellicant lies a simple idea: A decanter that can “see” its own procss in real time can optimize itself faster and more precisely than any human operator. Intellicant’s compact sensor package continuously measures three critical parameters—solids content in the feed, centrate quality, and cake dryness—thus generating a live data stream from inside the process. In concrete terms, this means: We have continuously refined this product. Today, Intellicant enables consistent, optimal operation under varying conditions — something that would be impossible to achieve manually.

Can I retrofit existing GEA decanters with Intellicant?

Fabien Patrick: We offer the GEA Sensor Upgrade Kit for this purpose. The sensors act as the eyes of Intellicant and continuously monitor your decanter in real time. They provide valuable insights into every phase of the process. These innovative sensors eliminate the need for manual sampling and give the operator effortless access to accurate data throughout the entire operation. Keyword: “Virtual Operator.” The Intellicant software ensures consistent dry substances, automates time-consuming adjustments, and significantly improves process reliability and stability. Through continuous analysis of process data, it reduces manual intervention, increases dry substance, and ensures optimal centrate quality while optimizing flocculant consumption. Furthermore, GEA offers access to the GEA Portal. The GEA Portal centralizes your collaboration with GEA and provides KPI tracking via an online dashboard as well as extended remote support for improved monitoring and performance optimization.