Wichita Falls installs USFilter dewatering systems at two plants

April 6, 2005
The city of Wichita Falls, Texas, recently awarded USFilter a more than $1 million order for five 2-m belt presses and two polymer feed systems, to be installed at its Jasper and Cypress Water Treatment Plants. The presses and polymer systems, which will be split between the two plants, will dewater water treatment residuals...

WARRENDALE, PA, April 5, 2005 -- The city of Wichita Falls, Texas, recently awarded USFilter a more than $1 million order for five 2-m belt presses and two polymer feed systems, to be installed at its Jasper and Cypress Water Treatment Plants. The presses and polymer systems, which will be split between the two plants, will dewater water treatment residuals.

Two belt presses will be installed at the Jasper plant this year and three more at the Cypress plant in 2006. The belt presses from USFilter Dewatering Systems are designed to concentrate and dewater sludge by means of two belts, arranged to perform the conveying, pressing and dewatering in three zones of logical sequence. Those zones include gravity drainage, wedge pressure and sheer pressure. Each machine will handle approximately 4,000 lbs/hr of dry solids.

A PolyBlend® DP-2000 dry/liquid polymer feed system from USFilter Stranco Products is also installed at each of the plants, to mix and meter polymer into the sludge stream. The polymer helps the sludge flocculate before it is fed into the belt presses for dewatering.

The DP-2000 system is specifically designed to provide uniform mixing. Dry polymer and water are initially mixed in the DD-4 polymer disperser, exposing the solution to a high-energy agitation via mechanical mixing. The rapid movement ensures proper activation of the polymer and prevents unwanted agglomerations. After brief exposure, the solution exits the high-energy mixer and flows into the mix tank. The Jasper plant has two 1500-gallon tanks while the Cypress plant has two 2000-gallon tanks.

The second-stage mix is a longer detention time, low-shear mix environment. The rotating impeller in the secondary mix tank is a patented "hollow-wing" design and covers over half the width of the tank. The low-shear mixing continuously and uniformly moves the solution vertically and horizontally, resulting in no agglomerations or broken polymer chains. From the mix tank, the activated polymer is fed to each belt press via polymer solution pump skids. These skids include a post-dilution system to decrease the polymer solution concentration and controls for the polymer solution pump that interface with the belt filter press controls.

Scott Taylor, director of public works for Wichita Falls reports the city is happy with its belt press purchase. "We believe this is a quality product that once operational, will provide a cost-effective solution for dewatering sludge created during the treatment process," he says.

According to Taylor, city staff has been very impressed with various USFilter personnel with whom they have interacted. In addition, he cites USFilter Dewatering Systems' municipal manufacturer's representative, Mike Kilborn of Dallas-based Treatment Equipment, as a valuable source during the initial and final stages of selecting an approved manufacturer.

"Kilborn even brought a trailer-mounted belt press to the city's Cypress Water Treatment Plant, to show city staff the effectiveness of using a belt press in dewatering water sludge," Taylor continues. "This made it easier to visualize the impact such a process could have for the plant."

In 2001, Wichita Falls also purchased a 14-mgd Memcor(R) CMF-S microfiltration system from USFilter Memcor Products for its Cypress plant (see case study: www.usfilter.com/NR/exeres/6A385F26-7E6C-435B-BA40-B4384DBA64F9.htm). Due to start up in Fall 2005, the complete system will include a backwash waste process and a RO system, to treat water from Lake Kemp for potable use.

USFilter Corp. (www.usfilter.com), a Siemens company, delivers cost-effective, reliable water and wastewater treatment systems and services to municipal, industrial, commercial and institutional customers worldwide. USFilter is part of Siemens' Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S), which provides innovative solutions and services designed to improve competitiveness in processing and manufacturing industries and in infrastructure. In fiscal 2004, I&S employed 30,000 people worldwide and achieved total sales of US$5.515 billion.

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