Rennes Métropole deploys a pioneer project with Purecontrol and Cobalt Water Global | Wastewater treatment | Nitrous oxide (N2O)

Rennes Métropole deploys a pioneer project with Purecontrol and Cobalt Water Global | Wastewater treatment | Nitrous oxide (N2O)

Since 2021, Rennes Métropole has been deploying a strategy to reduce CO2 emissions linked to the energy used to treat the territory's wastewater with the artificial intelligence solution developed by the company Purecontrol. Its real-time control solution will now be used to reduce emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas much more powerful than CO2. A first in the world.

In 2021, the Rennes Métropole sanitation authority called on the Breton company Purecontrol to optimize the operation of wastewater treatment structures. A unique technology, based on artificial intelligence, which has made it possible to reduce the electricity consumption of treatment plants by nearly 20% and thus save nearly 20 tons of CO2 emissions.

Rennes Métropole, an innovative city, will now take into account direct greenhouse gas emissions through the management of nitrous oxide (N2O) in the real-time control of treatment processes. This gas, emitted under certain conditions by wastewater treatment plants, may in fact represent the majority contribution of wastewater treatment to greenhouse gas emissions. To offer the Rennes Métropole authority a solution to effectively reduce these emissions, Purecontrol has partnered with Cobalt Water Global, an American company specialized in the modeling and management of this gas in treatment plants.

“N2O is the easiest, fastest, most profitable, and most important greenhouse gas for water companies to reduce. It is 300 times more powerful than CO2. If the goal is 'net zero', everyone should start with N2O,” says José Porro, CEO and founder of Cobalt Water Global.

“We are proud to work with partners, Rennes Métropole and Purecontrol, who understand the importance of reducing N2O and who are not afraid to take immediate climate action by integrating information from our N2O Risk DSS platform.”

“The partnership between Cobalt Water Global and Purecontrol is a major advance in the fight against global warming.” explains Geoffroy Maillard, CEO and co-founder of Purecontrol.
“One of our main goals is to help water managers significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The synergies provided by our solutions will therefore allow agencies such as Rennes Métropole to achieve these objectives.”

“Rennes Métropole has the ambition to halve greenhouse gas emissions per inhabitant on its territory by 2030.” develops Boris Guéguen, Sanitation Director of Rennes Métropole. “The first emission factor from a sanitation service is the nitrous oxide produced in the aeration basins of treatment plants. It is therefore essential to act and for this, the breakthrough technology proposed by Purecontrol and Cobalt Water Global seems to us to be the only solution in line with our ambitions.”  

This innovative project, launched in October 2022, will be implemented on the Beaurade wastewater treatment plant (360,000 equivalent inhabitants). After a phase of measuring real N2O emissions, the technology developed by Purecontrol will be used to control and optimize pond aeration systems in real time with respect to N2O emissions. This smart device will be effective from the beginning of 2023.

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Rennes Métropole was recently awarded the prize IWA Climate Smart Utilities, as part of its sanitation expertise, for its involvement and the relevance of its actions in the fight against global warming.