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Wastewater treatment plant gains significant performance improvement and reduces  operating costs by over $100,000 per year
 

 

  

Wastewater Treatment Effects with TWT Deposit Control Systems

 Pump Services, Inc., a Gettysburg, PA contracting firm servicing large industrial and commercial companies, worked with a client who was faced with almost daily fouling of pumps, disruptive downtime, and high manpower costs at a wastewater plant that is part of their larger facility.  Raw soda ash, introduced into the wastewater stream as a commonly used method to control pH, was the main culprit.  While inexpensive, safe, and able to be sewered without EPA concern, it is actually also raw scale!  The needs of this large facility required the use of over 200 pounds of raw soda ash per hour, depending on the season.

Their situation:

  • Wastewater and sludge so thick that a rod could stand straight up in it.
  • The wastewater facility was averaging one complete overhaul on one of their two transfer pumps each week, at an approximate cost of $800 per overhaul.
  • They were also incurring costs of $1,200 each month for service calls to clear scale-blocked transfer lines.
  • They had one employee devoted solely to overhauling these pumps as they became fouled with scale.
  • The blend tank used to administer the soda ash had two substantial rings within the tank, at the high and low water marks, which were a minimum of two inches wide and two inches thick with collected scale.
  • The facility had been sujected to fines because fouled transfer lines had lead several times to improper industrial runoff.

Pump Services, Inc. designed a solution to these problems using patented TWT Deposit Control technology, and implemented it in the second quarter of 1999.  For the 2" copper water inlet line, which serves the entire system, including the blend tank, they installed a 2" TWT Commercial/Industrial Deposit Control System.  After a period of three months, they discovered that while the existing scale problem had had diminished and new scale had been kept from collecting, the result was not as significant as hoped.

However, based on the results they did obtain, Pump Services knew that they could fully succeed with this treatment if they correctly configured an appropriate multi-point treatment scenario.  Taking advantage of the easy movability and flexibility of the TWT products, they relocated the 2" Deposit Control System to the 1" outlet line of the blend tank.  They then installed a replacement 4" Deposit Control System to treat the 2" water inlet line, instead.

The increased signal power available from the upsized controllers provided the necessary signal penetration on both lines, without changing the plumbing configuration (2" and 1" Reaction Chambers used with the upsized controllers maintained the existing pipe configurations), and the post-tank treatment assured that the treatment benefits are carried throughout the wastewater stream infrastructure.

Within a short period of time, distinct results were evident.  Then, by the end of one year:

  • the scale rings inside the blend tank were either greatly reduced or completely gone
  • the number of pump overhauls has gone from once each week to once every four months
  • the number of line cleanings has gone from once per month to once per year
  • the employee who was dedicated to overhauling the pumps as they fouled was reassigned to new duties, since that job was no longer necessary

Direct yearly savings gained by installing the TWT Deposit Control Systems:

Before After
Overhauls $41,600 $2,400
Line cleanings $14.400 $1,200
Direct labor $43,500 $0
Indirect labor $6,335 $528
Downtime cost $10,000 $833

Indirect labor costs reflect pipefitters and miscellaneous equipment necessary to dismantle piping for high pressure clenaing. Downtime costs reflect the cost of diverting the effluent waterfrom the wastewater facility's own waste handling system to the township's system.

Total Operating Costs Before TWT $115,836
Total Operating Costs After TWT $4,961
Total Yearly Savings with TWT $110,875

Pump Services, Inc. and their client state that while these figures are remarkable, they are, in fact, conservative.  Clearly, they are extremely satisfied with the results that the TWT deposit control products have produced, and look forward to implementing their use whenever they can,  in preference to any other treatment option.

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