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Wastewater Case Studies·February 5, 2015

Case Study: TASKMASTER® Helps Make Sludge into Forest Feed

The Birmingham Wastewater Treatment plant in Kansas City, Missouri is an activated sludge treatment facility that processes 12.4 million gallons of wastewater a day. The facility processes and receives 21,000 dry tons of sludge each year, which is pumped to sludge holding basins. For the last few years, the facility, in partnership with the city, has participated in an innovative recycling project and sludge has played a major role. Its use as fertilizer on land adjacent to the treatment plant has begun to convert the area into forest. It appears to be an environmentally sound, cost effective solution to sludge disposal. There was a time, however, when processing the sludge was more of a nuisance than an asset. Plant operators were constantly dealing with maintenance problems caused by debris clogging the sludge pumps. Industrial and commercial operations near the plant were the main culprits, discharging large quantities of cellophane, plastic bags and other solid waste into the flow. To complicate matters, the facility’s existing grinders were not performing adequately and needed to be replaced. Franklin Miller was called in to provide a solution and conducted a thorough system review. Based on their recommendations, the plant installed six TASKMASTER® TM8500 series inline grinders in front of each primary and transfer sludge pump. According to the management, it was a very good decision. TASKMASTER TM8500 series inline grinders quickly and effectively reduce the toughest sewage and sludge solids to fine particles directly in pipeline systems. Along with innovative CUTTER CARTRIDGE® technology, these grinders feature a convenient drop-in housing. This unique design allows for fast and easy removal of the entire cutter mechanism for periodic maintenance without sacrificing unit strength. These powerful twin shaft grinders employ one-piece cutter cartridges that replace banks of weak individual cutters and spacers. The result is a high strength, durable grinder with a remarkable resistance to cutter and spacer cracking. This design dramatically increases unit strength, reduces maintenance time and totally eliminates the need for cutter stack re-tightening. The TM8500 has two counter-rotating stacks that intermesh at close clearance to shear and shred solids into fine bits. One shaft feeds solids to the center of the unit while the other shreds them. The output achieved is easily processed by downstream equipment such as pumps, centrifuges, and belt filter presses. The TASKMASTER can be successfully installed in sewage treatment plants, sludge lines, pumping stations, roadside or runway sanitary facilities, institutional waste, or small solid waste applications. It is supplied for open channel or in-line applications. The units are available for 4″ through 24″ pipe sizes.

Wastewater Case Studies·February 5, 2015

Case Study: TASKMASTER® TM8540, an Inexpensive Solution to an Expensive Problem

Guelph, a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada is known as “The Royal City”. With a low crime rate, clean environment and generally high standard of living, the city with a population of 114,943, is consistently rated as one of the country’s best places to live. The Wastewater Services Division operates the 17mgd activated sludge plant, which provides tertiary treatment, discharging to the Speed River. Biosolids are anaerobically digested and mechanically dewatered. They are then applied to agricultural land, further processed within the facility’s composting systems, or landfilled. Over the past few years, the city has initiated a number of projects including upgrades to the water treatment facilities and wastewater treatment plant. They also have commissioned and built two sewage pump stations incorporating the newest technology. “I was the project manager for building those pump stations,” said Majde Qaqish, Project Engineer at the City of Guelph. “They were the first of their design in the City. We encountered a problem at one station, the pipe’s incoming flow (40 feet below ground) was offset 18” from the inlet trash basket at the wet well.” To solve the problem, several solutions were considered. Reinstall the pipe at 40 feet deep, a very costly option, requiring major, time consuming excavation work. Replace the sub pumps with grinder pumps, another very costly option (major mechanical and electrical work). Place a channel grinder at the inlet of the wet well. “Finally after careful review and 12 months of meetings, we decided to go with the third option,” said Qaqish. “This option was the most feasible and cost effective. We then reviewed which channel grinder would meet our specifications, comparing prices, availability, and support.” The plant ultimately purchased a Franklin Miller TASKMASTER® TM8540 Channel Grinder and according to Qaqish it was the right choice. “To this date and after 24hrs/7 days a week of operation for a total of 2 years we have not had one single issue with the running of the channel grinder (mechanical or electrical),” he concluded. “The continuous support and the training that was provided by Franklin Miller was most outstanding. As a result, the City is now considering placing another TASKMASTER Grinder in the Sewage pump facility in lieu of the trash basket.”

Wastewater Case Studies·February 5, 2015

Case Study: True Submersible Motor Ends Repeated Grinder Motor Maintenance Problem

The Franklin Township Sewer Authority had a repeated problem with an immersible motor on one of their grinders that was subject to flooding. The Authority runs a pump station collection system in Somerset, New Jersey that handles 6 mgd of domestic and industrial wastewater. Grinders play an important role, finely grinding up incoming debris. This allows the wastewater to pass easily through the pumps and pipelines to the treatment plant. But at one of the pump stations the sewage grinder was supplied with an immersible type of motor that was a cause of reoccurring problems. “The grinder was a bad engineering decision for that particular location,” said Assistant Superintendent, Scott Nocero. “The motor on the grinder we chose was immersible only as were the replacement motors. During heavy rain storms, the station’s wet-well was often flooded and we had to replace the motor several times. I did some research and my thinking was that if you install a truly submersible motor, you will not have to deal with the problem over and over again.” “I became acquainted with Franklin Miller after two of our other pump stations installed the TASKMASTER® TITAN® Duplex grinders that feature submersible motors,” said Nocero. “I spoke to the Franklin Miller salesman who told me I could retrofit our grinder, even though it wasn’t a Franklin Miller, with a submersible motor. And that’s what we did.” “The motor was custom fit to our grinder with some parts that were made in- house,” Nocero continued. “Everyone was very helpful, expediting everything because they knew the urgency of having a working grinder. Since the installation there have been no issues and no problems.” “We’ve been very satisfied,” he concluded. Franklin Miller’s submersible motors have unique design and construction features that make them suitable for fully submerged operation in up to 200 feet (61m) of water and sewage as well as continuous in air operation under full load operating conditions. This provides an optimal solution for trouble-free grinder operation in applications subject to flooding. Unlike immersible motors, FMI true submersible explosion proof motors offer dependable, submerged operation in either continuous or intermittent use. These motors are designed to provide high mechanical integrity under adverse operating conditions for maximum life and minimum life cycle costs. Their design requires no internal or external liquid cooling system. These (IP68) motors are suitable for grinders and comminutors as well as other applications, as defined by the National Electric Code as Class 1; Division 1, hazardous locations section 501-8 (a) requiring submersible explosion proof construction.

Wastewater Case Studies·February 5, 2015

Case Study: Grinder Saves The Day At Shickshinny Sewage Treatment Plant

The Borough of Shickshinny Sewer Plant faced a major operational problem. The plant, which has been in operation since 1979, services mostly residential areas, parts of two boroughs and a neighboring prison. It uses an activated sludge, secondary treatment process to process 500 MGD. Even though Shickshinny’s plant had a grinder located in front of the pumps, their pumps were still jamming frequently. The great deal of time and effort being expended to regularly maintain the pumps was becoming an unacceptable burden. The plant also had a comminutor. According to the plant supervisor, “it was an old type comminutor and wasn’t very effective. It just didn’t do the job”. In spite of all this equipment it was still necessary to regularly rake solids from a manual bar screen. That’s when the plant personnel turned to their consulting engineer for advice. The engineer focused his attention on the operation of the grinder. It turned out this unit just wasn’t strong enough to effectively handle the load and prevent overtaxing of the pumps. A new grinder was decided upon. The new unit, a TASKMASTER® TM8540, was designed for heavier duty service than their previous grinder. The TASKMASTER employs counter-rotating banks of intermeshing cutters to intensively reduce waste solids. Just as the time came to start up the new unit, the situation at the plant became critical. Only 15 minutes before the planned startup, the second of two pumps began to threaten to shut down. Since one pump was already out of operation, another failure would have caused serious trouble and the plant personnel were feeling the pressure. That’s when the service engineer from Franklin Miller Inc. arrived. He was informed that the successful operation of the new unit was critical. After going through the necessary start-up procedures and inspecting the installation, the new grinder was energized. The results were immediate. To everyone’s relief the unit lived up to its reputation and was truly impressive. The pump problems simply disappeared and manual bar screen raking was discontinued. According to plant operator, Mark Gensal, “The unit performed perfectly. It has been great. It relieved 95% of our problem, as far as pumps jamming up.” He further commented “I really recommend it to anybody. It is very well constructed, hardly any maintenance. It is fantastic.”

Wastewater Case Studies·February 5, 2015

Case Study: TASKMASTER® TT Grinder Ends Septage Headache

The Broward County Wastewater Treatment Plant in Pompano Beach, Florida is a regional facility processing 80 million gallons of wastewater every day. Adjacent to the plant and across the street is a septage receiving area used for pre processing and receiving septage from haulers. Proper treatment of this septage was a problem for the facility. Every day, haulers with an average capacity of 4000 gallons per tanker truck continually arrive at the pre-treatment area and dump the effluent from septic tanks, portable toilets and other septage systems into a discharge bay. The septage then needs to be processed so that it passes smoothly through the pumps to the treatment facility. According to Supervisor of Plant Management, Curtis Preece, “Previously a large bar screen captured the incoming debris which was then removed to a dumpster. Maintenance of the screen was costly because it had so many moveable parts. This also contributed to a lot of down time.” I knew there had to be a better way.” Preece continued. He attended a trade show and found exactly what he was looking for. “A light went on in my head when I saw the TASKMASTER® TT,” he said. The TASKMASTER is a rugged workhorse of a grinder and a part of Franklin Miller's full line of wastewater grinders. The unit’s twin shaft mechanism is especially rugged due to the use of ”CUTTER CARTRIDGE® technology" instead of standard individual cutter and spacer disks. This design gives it the extra strength needed to successful process these tough septage materials. Says Mr. Preece, “We installed it and did away with the bar screen altogether. It does the job completely” The unit has offered day-in and day-out dependability and performance. The TASKMASTER’S powerful size reduction capabilities facilitates further processing at the plant, protects downstream process equipment and ensures that systems run smoothly. “We’re very pleased with our choice,” Preece concluded. “Maintenance is non-existent and we’ve saved a lot of money.”

Wastewater Case Studies·February 5, 2015

Case Study: TASKMASTER® Solves Sludge Problem

A paper company located in the northeast experienced frequent problems at its wastewater treatment plant. Under normal conditions, sludge from the milling process is directed to this facility and is ground up and placed in a primary clarifier. The sludge is then put through a press where it is dewatered, extracted and sent to a landfill. n reality, according to the maintenance manager, the actual operation was often a headache. The problem was traced to the grinder used to grind the sludge before it moved to the sludge press. The particulate matter consisting of fines and milling debris was not ground finely enough. Consequently, when the sludge was pressed between the fabric rolls, the large particles caused pock marks and holes in the press fabric and, in extreme cases, cut the material. The plant turned to Franklin Miller for a solution, and a TASKMASTER® TM8512 was purchased for the application. ” We realized we needed a grinder with a much finer cutting surface and that is what we got when we installed a TASKMASTER”; said the maintenance manager. “We noticed an immediate difference in the fabric life of the sludge press and the unit has permanently replaced other grinders.” The TASKMASTER TM8500 series is a high performance, twin-shaft grinder that provides powerful size reduction capabilities, easy maintenance and exceptional durability. The TASKMASTER TM8500 is part of our Full Line Of Wastewater Grinders. The unit employs two counter-rotating cutter stacks that intermesh at close clearance to intensively shred solids into fine bits. The output is easily processed by downstream equipment such as pumps, centrifuges, and belt filter presses. The TASKMASTER’S one-piece, CUTTER CARTRIDGE® technology increases unit strength and completely eliminates the need for cutter stack re-tightening. Cutting elements are machined from solid alloy steel or stainless steel, resulting in a unit with remarkable resistance to cutter and spacer cracking.

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