Sludge Valve Upgrades Reduce The Number Of Corrective Work Orders

One of the largest wastewater treatment plants in the world recently finished a project for upgrading its sludge valve actuators. In a wastewater treatment process, these valves drain activated sludge from a reservoir and send it to a digester where it is processed. Normal operation of these valves is carried out using a manual handwheel; however, the operation is also commonly accomplished by means of electric, hydraulic or pneumatic actuators.

The facility maintains a log of all the corrective work orders that take place during a year and the sludge valve maintenance accounted for a large portion of them in the sludge processing section of the plant.