The BLUESTEEL project for the digitization of water management in the steel industry starts through a digital twin
The BLUESTEEL project is already underway with the aim of designing, implementing and validating a digital twin of the industrial water system of a CELSA Group steel plant in Catalonia, contributing to more efficient, safe and sustainable water management.
Coordinated by the Catalan Water Partnership (CWP), BLUESTEEL is committed to the digital transformation of the industrial water cycle through the use of advanced technologies such as IoT, Big Data, artificial intelligence and industrial cybersecurity, fully aligning with the principles of Industry 4.0.
The project will develop an interoperable digital platform that will integrate data from SCADA systems, PLCs and sensors, allowing real-time monitoring of the different water circuits, the automation of key processes and the prediction of failures and incidents. This tool will act as a decision support system, facilitating a more proactive and data-based management of water resources.
One of the differential elements of BLUESTEEL is the adoption of a data architecture based on the Unified Namespace (UNS), which allows the integration and contextualization of information from water circuits (SCADA, PLCs, IoT and sensors) and enables advanced analytics. This approach will facilitate functionalities such as leak and overconsumption detection, process optimization and real-time decision support, with a water saving forecast of more than 5% once the solution is implemented. The project will also include a specific study on industrial cybersecurity to ensure the integrity, confidentiality and availability of information in an increasingly connected industrial environment.
The project has been conceived with a clear vocation for scalability and replicability, both for other plants of the CELSA group and for other water-intensive industrial sectors, positioning BLUESTEEL as a reference case in industrial water digitalization.
BLUESTEEL is funded by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, within the framework of theInnovative Business Groups (AEI) programme, and is developed thanks to the collaboration of a consortium formed by the Catalan Water Partnership (CWP), CELSA Group, Aquater, SPIN Group, ULBIOS and the Digital Cluster of Catalonia.
