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【2021 Solutions】 Enhancing Water Resource Efficiency: WoLong Intelligence Makes Good Use of AI for Early Warning and Decision-Making Functions

An incident of wastewater treatment audit at a home electroplating factory was the driving force for Xie Wenbin, the general manager of WoLong Intelligence Environmental Company, to venture into the environmental engineering field. Leaving behind the envied position of senior engineer at TSMC, he embarked on this entrepreneurial journey with a mission to create a better environment for Taiwan and future generations. Facing erratic climate changes causing droughts and floods, Xie utilized artificial intelligence (AI) technology to become a pioneer in water resource protection.

Observations on Taiwan's rainfall trends over the past half-century indicate that due to intensifying climate change, the drought cycles in Taiwan have shortened from 17 years to between 3 and 5 years. In April 2021, Taiwan experienced its worst water shortage in over half a century. Subsequently, central and southern Taiwan suffered from floods caused by heavy rainfall, making water resource protection a critical issue in today's society.

Xie Wenbin, formerly a chief engineer at TSMC responsible for water treatment, achieved remarkable results in a water-saving event organized by the Water Resources Agency and Hsinchu Science Park in 2015, where TSMC ranked first. During his tenure at the Environment and Development Foundation, he undertook the Industrial Bureau's project on enhancing water efficiency in industries, advising over 300 Taiwanese companies.

AI Adoption in Water Resource Applications Aims for Early Warning and Forecasting Goals

Since its inception less than six months ago, WoLong Intelligence Environmental Company has focused on government projects and SMEs for IoT setups or AI intelligence adoption in wastewater and sewage treatment, aiming to achieve early warning and decision-making goals to enhance water resource efficiency. There are three main themes of smart AIoT applications: predictive and decision-making water treatment systems, optimization of water treatment operation protocols, and smart water treatment management platforms. These are the core businesses of WoLong Intelligence.

Scope and Benefits of AIpoint Water Treatment AI Intelligence System

▲ Scope and Benefits of AIpoint Water Treatment AI Intelligence System

Xie Wenbin noted that the Industrial Bureau supervises 66 wastewater treatment plants, plus tens of thousands of regulated wastewater treatment facilities commonly facing issues with their chemical coagulation systems due to inaccurate and untimely human control and feedback-based chemical dosing, leading to unstable water quality. Large amounts of PAC and Polymer are used unnecessarily, producing a significant amount of sludge. Current testing methods contain errors, and there is a need to establish a more comprehensive AI testing data database to support and assist in setting dosing standards. The integration of big data with patented AI models enhances the efficiency and precision control of wastewater (pollution prevention systems).

Adopting AIpoint Precision Dosing System Achieves Emission Reduction and System Longevity

The adoption of WoLong Intelligence's AIpoint precision dosing intelligent system can achieve the following benefits:

• Reduce manual operation

• Reduce the amount of chemicals used

• Reduce sludge production

• Reduce carbon emissions / Save energy

• Extend system life

• System automatic prevention and maintenance

• Lower conductivity levels

AI Water Resource Service Models and Processes

▲ AI Water Resource Service Models and Processes

Indeed, wastewater and sewage plants vary in their degree of digitalization. Therefore, Xie Wenbin categorizes clients and sets up IoT devices and software/hardware systems for those not yet digitalized; for those already equipped with IoT, AI technologies are introduced to solve specific problems and enhance the efficiency of wastewater treatment. 'Not all customer issues need to be resolved with AI, and we never use AI for the sake of using AI,' says Xie Wenbin, who assesses and implements based on the actual needs of the customers. With his extensive experience in water treatment and the addition of AI experts, factories only need to provide water quality data for AI prediction and decision-making.

In practice, some factories have stringent cybersecurity requirements, so AIpoint's smart cloud platform can directly connect the data collection hardware to the factory site, and the data is not stored in the cloud. The system automatically categorizes and filters algorithms to find the most suitable model, which is then connected to the system end to generate predictions and decisions. Additionally, the cloud platform is secured with blockchain encryption, and the factory end follows the same steps for rapid integration. Also, the backend monitoring system can assist in early warning for water treatment or water recovery systems, including sensor fault prevention, automatic protection, and retraining of backend models. Projects typically last about three to six months, after which the model is adjusted based on the system's condition. This part is offered as a subscription service combined with after-sales service.

WoLong Intelligence Environmental Company also sets short, medium, and long-term goals. In the short term, it aims to maintain integrity and establish a strong brand identity; in the medium term, it plans to build an ecosystem with hardware partners and collectively expand the market; and ultimately, it hopes to export its services internationally. Financially, Xie Wenbin is looking to actively seek angel investment, targeting NT$20 million to achieve the company's goal of sustainable operation.
 

Founder and General Manager of WoLong Intelligence Environmental Company, Xie Wenbin

▲ Founder and General Manager of WoLong Intelligence Environmental Company, Xie Wenbin

「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only. Translation date:2024-05-19」

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