Monitoring of a wastewater-treatment plant with a multivariate model - The benefits of PCA technology are explained

Multivariate techniques, like PCA, can be used to develop a model of a process based on data variability. This model can be further used to monitor the process. Tembec Inc. is using PCA technology to monitor the wastewater-treatment plant at its Temiscaming facilities. The PCA model estimated the process state for a period of six months on a weekly basis. During that period, it has shown that the process has changed. Moreover, the PCA model gave indications of process upsets and abnormal situations. It also indicated the major contributors to these changes or upsets.