Services
Nine service lines for utilities and industrial plants: process optimization, operational energy audits, startup and commissioning, operator training, condition assessment, design review and conceptualization, value engineering review, operations during construction, and O&M manuals.
Process Optimization
Process audits and troubleshooting with documented results. We look at treatment performance, then make the process changes that add capacity, improve effluent quality and bring a plant back into permit compliance.
- Activated sludge process control
- Phosphorus removal and solids yield reduction
- Anaerobic digestion and solids handling
- Contract operations performance reviews
Documented results: $3,832,000 of added process capacity and 57% less effluent BOD at an Indiana plant, effluent TSS from 60 mg/L to below 10 mg/L at an Oregon plant, and SVI from 400 to below 150 at a Washington SBR plant.
Operational Energy Audit
A process energy audit that cuts electricity, natural gas and chemical costs. We study how your plant is run and focus on operational changes that need little or no capital, so the savings start quickly.
Where we look:
- Aeration, blowers and dissolved oxygen control
- Digester heating and gas use
- Pumping
- Solids handling run time, such as thickening and dewatering
- Chemical use
Documented results:
- Indiana plant: $536,550 per year in total savings, including 25% and 20% less electricity (kWh) on the plant’s two meters and $90,000 per year in natural gas. Belt thickener run time fell from 15 to 4.5 hours a day.
- California plant: an audit that identified over $200,000 per year in energy and chemical savings.
- Another Indiana plant: an audit that identified potential energy and labor savings of over $450,000 per year.
Startup and Commissioning
We plan and run startups from construction to full operation.
- Functional and performance testing
- Clean and process water validation
- SCADA loop checks and control testing
- Alarm setpoints
We led startup and commissioning on nearly every major wastewater project at Kennedy Jenks and Brown and Caldwell. That work included vendor training, staff onboarding and post-startup optimization, and the commissioning of pump stations, headworks and grit, advanced secondary processes, filters, clarifiers, digesters and dewatering.
Operator Training
Operator training development and delivery, drawing on hundreds of plants. Training is offered live, in person, and online.
- Live, plant-specific package: a plant-specific O&M manual, the training, plant-specific training materials, and process control workbooks that are interactive and can be tied to SCADA
- Online: general wastewater training, coming soon through the Wastewater Academy. It does not include the plant-specific package
- Certification: operator certification exam prep, including practice exams and answer keys
We have trained operators at one Indiana plant in 26 of the last 29 years, taking a team of 12 from few certified operators to every operator certified.
Condition Assessment
Assessment of the condition of your plant and its systems.
Tell us about your plant and we will talk through what an assessment should cover.
Design Review and Conceptualization
We review designs for operability and help conceptualize and scope new work.
- Design operability reviews
- Design conceptualization and scoping
- SCADA loop and alarm verification
Our work with hundreds of plants across the United States and Canada informs the design operability reviews we perform. We have also reviewed a project during construction for potential improvements and given operational guidance and project delivery direction to a contractor.
Value Engineering Review
We review a design or a proposed change from an operator’s point of view, with a focus on operability.
We bring operating experience to the review. Tell us about your project and we will talk through what a review should cover.
Operations During Construction
We bring the operator’s point of view to a project while it is being built.
- Reviewing a project during construction for potential improvements
- Project delivery direction for a contractor
We have reviewed a project during construction for potential improvements and given operational guidance and project delivery direction to a contractor.
O&M Manuals
Written by operators for operators. We write plant-specific and electronic O&M manuals for municipal and industrial plants. We have been plant superintendents twice, so we write the manual the way an operator needs to read it.
- Electronic: bookmarks, a clickable contents and linked cross-references
- Interactive: a manual that works with process control workbooks that can be tied to SCADA
- Great illustrations: cutaways and process drawings of your own plant
- Need to know: operation, valve lineups, troubleshooting, maintenance and safety for each process, without the filler
- Plant-specific: built from your drawings, equipment, SCADA screens and your operators’ knowledge
The manual is the core of our full plant-specific training package, along with the training, plant-specific training materials and interactive process control workbooks.
We have written manuals for plants in Texas, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Indiana, British Columbia and Hawaii.
Sample page, White River WRRF. See more example pages.
Partner, sub or prime
We work as a partner, subcontractor or prime with other talented engineers, contractors and consultants, and we can assemble a quality team for a project of any size.
Know the process and the equipment
Startup, optimization and training all depend on operators understanding how each unit works. This cutaway of a secondary clarifier shows the influent well, the suction header sludge collector, the sludge blanket and the effluent weir.
Anaerobic digestion and solids handling
We have supported digester startups and written digester operating materials, including a training deck and a THP digester operating workbook for a Hawaii plant.
This chart shows the four biological stages of mesophilic digestion of thermally hydrolyzed sludge and the main operator controls.
Talk with us about your plant
Call 503-701-2766 or email info@ActivatedSludge.com.