The cost of sludge concentration and disposal is one of
the largest items in a plant�s Operating Budget. Reducing costs is not as
simple as limiting polymer to 20 lb./ton. You have to know if adding $5 more
polymer will save you $6 in disposal cost. How do you get more out of the
centrifuge? Is the Polymer system OK? And when that�s done, how to balance
the costs?
This course, Cost Effective
Centrifugation will change the way you think about sludge. You will learn
how to diagnose and fix problems you have been living with (and paying for)
for years.
I can tell you right now, that the training
the centrifuge manufacturer gave you when they commissioned the equipment was
just enough to operate it, and no more. Operating the dewatering system
without understanding it, runs up costs. Knowledge is the key to lowering
your budget and keeping it low.
Every day I see plants wasting polymer and hauling excess
water to the land fill, because no one taught the operators how to optimize
the centrifuge and the systems connected to it.
Cost Effective Centrifugation will enable
your operators to really understand what's going on inside the centrifuge,
and how it will react to change.
1.
Water and the Sludge
Particle
What it is that makes sludge
difficult to dewater.
- The Basics of Centrifuges
How they work and what is happening
inside. Including a simple, practical model for understanding the operation
and control of centrifuges.
- Troubles in the Wet End
What sort of things going on in
the wet end of the plant will impact thickening and dewatering. Small changes
can result in big improvements to the dewatering operation.
- What�s the Mystery about Optimization?
Pond Setting, Bowl speed, and
Torque set points; how these can save you thousands of dollars each
month!
- Understanding Polymers & Polymer
Systems
Is the polymer system working
well? Is the polymer reacting properly? Poor polymer make-up results in
wasted polymer! You will learn the simple field tests to determine if the
problem is with the polymer, the polymer makeup system, the sludge, or the
centrifuge.
- Polymer Contracts & Bidding
What�s the best way to conduct a
polymer trial to assure you get the best price?
- Calculations for Operators
Common polymer calculations,
Basic centrifuge calculations: G force, Capture, Power
- Basin Operations
The three things the operator
should check daily. Operator logs and record keeping. Easy ways to measure
the vibration level.
- Maintenance & Repair
How to deal with repair shops.
What to demand from them to minimize getting ripped off. Where to get parts,
besides the obvious. How often should you really change the oil? Plus three
home built tools to simplify maintenance.
Please see the detailed agenda
below
- The final report
usually runs 7-10 pages, and will contain an operating curve of cake
dryness vs. polymer dosage for your plant, which is crucial to evaluate
dewatering cost.
- Evaluation of the
polymer addition points and if time permitted, a pond change.
- The final report
contains the data collected, and spread sheets automatically
establishing the lowest cost (Polymer and Disposal) at your plant, for
two different disposal costs.
- We e-mail a copy of
the active excel data sheet so that the plant has a convenient way to
calculate costs in the future.
- We evaluate the
polymer system, and recommend changes to eliminate demonstrated short
comings.
- We evaluate
maintenance and repair experiences.
- We recommend dam
changes and bowl speed changes where appropriate.
- We offer suggestions
for further improvements to the plant
Some plants have successfully applied for
certification credit for this program.
Polymer Evaluation and Procurement for Everyone!
(Belt press, Centrifuges, whatever!)
This course ignores the BS the vendors give you about the
cross-linked dibutlmucktane hopscotch polymerization�it is all red polymer,
blue polymer and green polymer. This course is equally useful for belt
filter presses, centrifuges, gravity decks, etc. You don�t need to be
an engineer to drive a car, and you don�t need to be a chemist to be
comfortable with polymer evaluation and testing. We�ll show you how.
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The very basics. How polymers
work. How to dilute the polymers, basic safety, and clean up.
Emulsions, solutions, and dry polymer. Which do you need.
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How to evaluate polymers.
Define the goals, optimize first, encourage competition. Let the
vendors do the jar testing, but not the plant trial.
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The basic polymer contract. A
sample contract developed by Mike Zabilansky (Metropolitan District
Commission Hartford Conn.), as described in Bidding the Polymer Contract,
WE&T November 2006, pp60-63. Students will receive an active copy of
the contract in word. Because polymer vendors balk at fixed price,
multiyear contracts, this contract has a US Government cost escalator to
adjust the price up or down, for multi year contracts.
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The plant view of polymer trials.
Single and double blind evaluation, Basic planning. Equipment,
measuring, evaluation.
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Control throughout the year. Use the
jar test to: Evaluate the polymer make up system, the water source, and
quality control to assure your self that they delivered the same polymer they
tested.
Application for
Training
Training Agenda for
2014
