There’s a lot to be said for the old adage, “Use the right tool for the job.” When it comes to flow meters for municipal or industrial water treatment plant (WTP) and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) operations, however, the sheer number of choices can be overwhelming. That is where using a process of elimination to winnow out styles that don’t fit the performance criteria of an application can make it easier to compare the few remaining options. Here is a checklist of considerations to accelerate that process.
Using historical data and Seeq analytical software, Nukon calculates when sewer blockages will occur up to 13 hours before occurrence, preventing spills.
“We have too much data” is the refrain we continually hear from water utilities. It’s no surprise that managing data from multiple sources and turning it into business insights presents a daunting challenge; however, data influx does not have to be a burden. When managed well, there’s no such thing as too much data, especially if your business is implementing a big data strategy — a topic that has implications and reach beyond the scope of this paper.
At 10am on August 24, 2017, a customer in Midway Point, a small suburb outside of Hobart, Tasmania, reported a sewage spill on his property. Midway Point stands adjacent to Pitt Water Nature Reserve, home to rare birds, butterflies, and the largest oyster lease in Tasmania, covering some 14 hectacres. In late August, Pitt Water oysters, prized for their briny flavor and consistency, were just coming into peak condition.
The OSIsoft PI System is at the center of Thames Water’s “intelligence Hub” (iHub), which merges disparate data sources to drive operational performance. Thames Water can now garner critical insights from its network of water delivery and sewage waste removal systems that span the greater London area.
Yorkshire Water produces 1.3 billion liters of clean water and treats one billion liters of water in its waste water networks every single day. The company has 686 treatment facilities spread across northern England and 83,000 kilometers of water pipelines, which is enough to circle the earth twice.
Leprino Foods, the world's largest mozzarella cheese producer, operates two plants that share one wastewater pipeline – a 16” SDR11 High Density Polyethylene Pipeline (operating at approximately 160 PSI). During dirt work an “auger” hit the wastewater pipeline and drilled an 8” diameter hole in the line. Leprino needed immediate access to a repair fitting for this line.
The Great Lakes region was blessed with abundant freshwater for its rivers and lakes. Water as a resource and method of transportation were an important factor in Akron, OH, blossoming as one of America’s early manufacturing hubs during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The City of Marengo, Illinois operates an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant that processes an average volume of 1.8MGD with a maximum capacity of 5.94MGD. In the fall of 2007, the operators of the plant began to observe reduced performance of their liquid-polymer feed system that was in place at the city’s facility. The Dynablend™ liquid-polymer unit was a good fit for the Marengo plant because of its reliability and performance over a wide range of polymers commonly used for sludge processing. Read the full case study to learn more.
By 2020, the number of connected things will triple from 6 billion to 20 billion. Digitalization is creating new business opportunities and alternative business models.
Smarter measurement supports safer, more efficient and more sustainable operations, improving uptime and extending servicelife, whatever the industry sector.
One of the most common processes in wastewater treatment is the activated sludge method, which biologically treats the wastewater through the use of large aeration basins. This process requires the pumping of compressed air into the aeration basins where a diffuser system ensures the air is distributed evenly for optimum treatment. The energy needed to provide compressed air is a significant cost in the operation of a wastewater treatment plant.
Facility administrators will find the advanced ST100 Series Thermal Mass Air/Gas Flow Meter from Fluid Components International (FCI) helps them improve the accuracy of specialty gas point of use and sub-metering operations to achieve accurate billing in their labs for better cost tracking and control.
Coriolis measurement has been adopted as a default technology in many application scenarios due to its high accuracy and immunity to process variables (temperature, pressure and flow profile). However, Coriolis wasn't always widely accepted. Two applications, in particular, helped what was once a nascent flow measurement technology gain a foothold in the marketplace.
Fox Thermal Flow Meters use a constant temperature differential (constant Δ T) technology to measure mass flow rate of air and gases.
Dosing of the precipitant was adjusted manually based on the laboratory measurement value of the daily composite sample and so was unable to respond to possible peaks. Although being compliant with the effluent limits, the values observed fluctuate between 0.2 and 0.8 mg/L.
Hach LDO® technology improves the efficiency of pharmaceutical plant’s wastewater treatment process, helping to protect the environment and the community.
Levels of phosphorus, a chemical element that promotes organic growth, must be controlled in wastewater coming from beverage, food and dairy processing plants. Failure to control phosphorus accurately has a negative impact on water quality and can lead to large fines.
Compliance and consistent high quality are two of the key goals within the beverage industry. Hach® provides support for these goals through comprehensive analyses of water and beer.
There are several basic methods for reducing harmonic voltage and current distortion from nonlinear distribution loads such as adjustable frequency drives (AFDs). Following is a description of each method, along with each method’s advantages and disadvantages.
Organic carbon compounds vary greatly. In fact, one of the first lessons in most introductory Organic Chemistry courses explains that the number of possible carbon compounds is virtually infinite due to carbon’s ability to form long, chain-like molecules. While chromatographic methods like gas chromatography (GC) or high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) are able to make quantitative determinations for specific compounds, the user must first know which specific compounds to look for.
Endress+Hauser releases the Memograph M RSG45 Advanced Data Manager DIN rail version, an intelligent remote device with extensive communication capabilities, making it ideal for IIoT applications and use as an edge device for getting data to cloud-based servers. Thanks to its intuitive operation, Memograph M adapts quickly and easily to any application. The process values are clearly presented on the display and logged safely, limits are monitored and analyzed.
From data to knowledge to transformation
Move from complexity to simplicity, from asset and process intelligence to operational intelligence with the PI System. Its highly scalable, open data infrastructure empowers enterprises in real time, transforming operational data into actionable knowledge and business transformation.
Connect Your Lab
3S is an intelligent packaging solution protected with an originality seal. The cap provides information via Radio-frequency identification or RFID, enabling automated data transfer between the reagent and titration instrument. Intelligent communication for improved performance.
Shelter space and the overall initial investment in analytical equipment can be expensive. The PGC5000 oven with an integrated controller offers a low initial investment solution by integrating the single board computer (SBC) directly into the PGC5000B or PGC5000C gas chromatograph ovens.
Guided wave radar technology provides accurate and reliable level and interface measurement in effluent treatment areas, ensuring regulatory compliance and reducing costs in wastewater applications.
No utility wants to enact an emergency plan, but every utility should have one in place.
Nicole George, Product Manager - Pumping Variable Frequency Drives with Eaton, starts this Water Talk discussion with a description of the Internet of Things (IoT) before going deep on capabilities, particularly with pumping systems and variable frequency drives (VFDs). Learn how IoT-enabled pumps can help manage operation more efficiently and save on labor costs with cloud-connected, VFD-powered data analytics and health monitoring.
The cost of operations is a rising concern for many water utilities, in addition to the chief concern of treating to regulations and protecting the environment. What may be overlooked, however, is the importance of power management to help achieve these objectives. In this Water Talk interview, Eaton Corporation's Joel Benzing explains how intelligent electrical infrastructure can help enhance plant productivity and efficiency by aiding, optimizing, and protecting the facility's equipment as well as its people.
Partnering with the Water Research Foundation, Brown and Caldwell has developed the Blueprint for One Water — a user-friendly document for the practical application of 'One Water' planning. According to Lisa Skutecki, Brown and Caldwell's Southern California Water Resources Group Manager, 'One Water' is the concept of breaking down barriers across the water sector.
On the heels of an important paper on utilizing Big Data to more effectively manage stormwater assets, Mark VanAuken, Stormwater Practice Leader, and Fernando Pasquel, National Director of Stormwater and Watershed Management, both of Arcadis, joined Water Talk to discuss the findings.
Retrofitting your existing S&L Pump Station with new components can give it new life. In fact, you just might retire before it does.
The Ultra Mag electromagnetic flow meter (or "magmeter") sets itself apart from the start, with a stainless steel body, steel flanges, and a consistent 3M fusion-bonded epoxy liner, inside and out, to eliminate wear, abrasions, and corrosion.
In the world of water and wastewater, it's not enough to simply get a measurement back on how your system is performing. The non-linear process of water treatment and distribution requires ongoing adjustment and diagnostics based on process and regular instrument analysis. In this Water Online video, Tom Siller, Senior Director for Hach's Software Business Unit, discusses Claros, a new water intelligence system that not only analyzes but looks to fill the knowledge void as we face a generational change in our treatment operator ranks.
There are a variety of costs that are easy to overlook in water treatment. But as Herman Coello, Products Manager for SIEMENS Process Instrumentation, explains in this Water Online video, accurately measuring your flow and treatment parameters can reduce them all. Much-overlooked expenses such as pumping inefficiencies and chemical overdosing can all be reduced to save operating expense.
Designing SCADA systems can be a challenge. When developing or updating a SCADA system, it is important to consider which devices it will need to communicate with, how and where the application HMI is required, as well as the disruptiveness of component downtime or missing historical data. With these items, one can start the process of planning their application architecture. Of course, it is good to consider that the architecture should be flexible enough to support the progressive updating.
