Water Online Radio
-
A Modular, Energy-Saving Approach To Wastewater Gaining Traction
10/22/2019
A combination of urban sprawl, more stringent environmental regulations, and aging facilities is putting a huge strain on the wastewater operations at many municipalities. The good news is that membrane aerated biofilm reactor technology, also known as MABR, offers a compact and energy-efficient solution.
-
External Solutions To Water/Wastewater Flow Measurement
10/21/2019
Installing flow meters in new piping is one thing. Replacing a 20-year-old meter or adding new metering to piping where it never existed before is quite another. In this Water Talk interview, Cheryl Ades Anspach, marketing manager with Badger Meter, offers a non-invasive alternative using easily retrofittable clamp-on ultrasonic meters offering accuracy to + 0.5 percent and flow rates to 33,000 gpm in pipes up to 48” diameter. Two palm-sized rail-mounted transducers provide simpler, more affordable installation than having to shut down or cut into a live pipeline or bring in heavy equipment to install a full-bore mag meter. Built-in datalogging backup (8 GB) with time-date stamp granularity down to one second provides ample opportunity for detailed flow analysis.
-
Advanced Flow Metering Incorporates More Features
10/21/2019
As water operations emphasize tighter controls for greater efficiency, the demand for accurate flow metering is becoming more critical than ever. To answer this call, GF Piping Systems has introduced the FlowtraMag, a PVC-bodied, full bore mag meter.
-
An Improved Approach To Water Quality
10/21/2019
Fine bubble diffusers in water treatment operations can be problematic. In addition to their tendency for fouling and gasket failure, they can foster less-than-ideal bromate conditions. Using sidestream injection technology for delivering ozone, by comparison, offers a significant reduction in bromate formation while allowing easy access to key process components for maintenance and eliminating the need for contactor shutdowns.
-
A Holistic Approach To Water Treatment
10/21/2019
Not all water is the same, so don't be sold on a "one-size-fits-all" solution. Many treatment providers will attempt to fit a square peg in a round hole, while others — a select few, in fact — can provide a fit-for-purpose solution based on broad, customized capabilities. That's the pitch from U.S. Water Services, which recently became part of Japan-based Kurita Water Industries, a resource- and technology-rich company with global reach.
-
Using Fingerprints To ID Ideal Instrument Performance
10/20/2019
Everyone wants peak accuracy from their instrumentation, but nobody wants to disrupt their field process to verify it. Purvang Upadhyay, the global water industry manager for measurement and analytics with ABB, shared an attractive alternative to such disruption with the Water Talk moderators at WEFTEC 2019 — in-situ verification. This classic example of digitalization in the water industry enables users to check the health and accuracy of an electromagnetic flow meter against a digital ‘fingerprint’ of that meter’s performance the day it was originally calibrated or installed.
-
Improved Intelligence For Better Control
10/20/2019
The water and wastewater industry has been dominated by automation based on programmable logic controllers working in tandem with SCADA. However, newer systems that better blend those aspects provide improved intelligence. As a result, plant operators aren’t required to maintain a separate engineering station to control strategy as well as the HMI.
-
Forward-Looking Technology Anticipates Compliance Needs
10/19/2019
When a company stakes its reputation on delivering innovative technologies, products, and services, the specter of a changing regulatory landscape is considered more an opportunity than an obstacle. In this Water Talk interview, Mirka Wilderer, CEO of De Nora Water Technologies, discusses varying topics such as pharmaceuticals and nutrients in wastewater, the synergy of the company’s new MIOX and Neptune acquisitions, and how to address the growing concern over chlorate disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in drinking water. For example, De Nora’s new ClorTec Gen III onsite hypochlorite generators generate up to 3,000 lbs./day of chlorine-based disinfectants while reducing chlorate formation and cutting operating costs by 15 percent as compared to previously available models.
-
Anaerobic Digestion Now Making More Biological/Financial Sense
10/19/2019
Is there value in anaerobic digesters beyond wastewater treatment? According to Nick Bonkoski, a domain leader for anaerobic digestion systems at Suez Water Technologies, the answer is a resounding “Yes.” The insights he shared with Water Talk at WEFTEC 2019 paint a bright ecological and financial landscape of how municipal wastewater treatment plants now incorporate co-digestion of food waste with biosolids to capitalize on excess digester capacity. As changing regulations — e.g., organic-diversion mandates in densely populated areas — create new incentives, utilities maximizing biogas production are reaping dividends while reducing landfill dependency. Biogas uses include generating heat for internal processes, generating electricity for internal consumption and resale, or even upgrading raw biogas quality to supply the natural-gas grid.
-
New STEPs Minimize Biosolids, Energy, And Installation Costs
10/18/2019
When low population density and troublesome topography make traditional gravity sewers cost-prohibitive, septic-tank effluent-pumping (STEP) technology offers an affordable alternative. In this Water Talk discussion, Mike Saunders, market segment leader for engineered systems at Orenco Systems, outlines how to match the right technology to the need. Orenco’s new decentralized liquid-only sewer systems treat septic effluent that is reduced by about 80 percent of its strength. Its smaller-diameter pressure mains run for 10 miles without supplemental pumps and install at just a fraction of the depth of traditional sewers. The approach minimizes biosolids, runs on little pumping power, and requires no blowers, so it minimizes energy requirements and keeps both installation and maintenance costs lower than those of conventional sewer systems.