Application of data-mining methods for optimising process and maintenance in energy conversion and waste-to-energy plants

Data-mining is a technique that can be used to derive specific measures for optimisation from the large body of process data collected. It can be used to detect non-obvious but nevertheless significant interrelationships between process data and damage events occurring within the facility. By combining information from maintenance data and process parameters, damage and disruption events can be categorised systematically. These can be then explained through analysis of operational data in terms of cause and effect. The aim is to reduce downtime and to lower operational resource consumption and maintenance costs significantly.