How Turbo Aeration Blowers Optimize Wastewater Treatment Efficiency

By Tom McCurdy, Aerzen

High-speed turbo aeration blower technology is smarter than either positive displacement or low-pressure screw blower equipment, giving wastewater plant operators an advantage in initial cost, operating efficiency, and operator burden. But control of both blower sequencing and the blower control valves’ rate of change is paramount.

When implementing high-speed turbo blowers, aeration control can be accomplished without the use of bypasses — devices sometimes added to wastewater management systems using PD or hybrid technologies to help maintain a proper dissolved oxygen (DO) level in the basin by blowing off air. Using turbo blowers, DO is controlled by sequencing loading and unloading of the blowers without shutting them down completely.

Sequencing can be supplemented — when one or more turbo blowers needs to be taken out of service or when an operator needs to manage low-end flows throughout the system — using jockey blowers. The key to successfully using one of these smaller-sized blowers is ensuring its maximum flow overlaps the minimum flow of at least one full-sized blower.

Ultimately, to operate at peak efficiency, the implementation and operation of high-speed turbo aeration blowers should consider proper blower sizing, sequencing, and control.