New wastewater technology needs ABB reliability

NORWALK, CT, Aug. 30, 2006 -- An ABB drives and motor control solution ensures round-the-clock reliability for pioneering sludge processing technology in the United Kingdom, reported the company Aug. 22. "We chose the ABB solution because reliability is paramount," says the customer.

The environmentally-friendly technology was developed by Agrivert, a wastewater recycling company based in the U.K., and installed at a wastewater treatment plant at Howden in northeast England on behalf of Northumbrian Water, one of the country's largest water utilities.

Agrivert's technology lime-treats and removes the water from wastewater sludge, to produce a sterile, low-odor cake that can be used as agricultural fertilizer.

Precise motor control
To ensure the line runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Agrivert chose an ABB motor control solution consisting of 32 motor starters and eight variable speed drives. The solution controls the motors that move the sludge around the plant and run the centrifuge dewaterer.

"We chose this control equipment because reliability is paramount and we get that from ABB," says Alexander Maddan, managing director of Agrivert. "The plant has now been running problem-free for around 19 months, and has already processed over one million cubic meters of sewage sludge."

Reliability is paramount
Whereas wastewater treatment plants typically operate with an entire processing line on standby in case of breakdowns, Howden has just a single processing line with no backup. With wastewater entering the plant constantly, equipment reliability is critical.

Agrivert is marketing the new process as "very high output at low operating costs," a strategy facilitated by the ABB variable speed drives and motor starters which eliminate the wasteful use of costly energy while achieving peak levels of reliability and availability.

---

Also see: "Mikolajczak named product line manager, ABB Automation Products, Low-Voltage Drives"

###