Belt press struvite cleaning at Tulsa Southside
Belt press struvite cleaning at the Tulsa Southside Wastewater Treatment Plant needed 3,500 psi water to loosen small pieces of hard scale, and all five belt filter presses were affected. One HydroFLOW® i Range unit was installed at the pump discharge, 50 ft upstream of an Andritz press, and monitored from 17 February to 31 May 2017 with CH2M verifying the trial. The cleaned drum surface stayed free of new struvite for the full 90 days, and heavily encrusted areas thinned noticeably. Some deposits could be scraped back to bare metal for the first time. The plant then funded treatment of the header feeding all five presses.
The Challenge
- Belt press struvite cleaning required frequent, labour-intensive high-pressure work
- Heavy struvite encrustation covered the drum and other belt press surfaces
- All five of the plant’s belt filter presses experienced scale buildup
- Operators needed 3,500 psi water to loosen small pieces of hard scale
- Frequent scale removal placed a substantial labour burden on plant staff
The Solution
- Belt press struvite cleaning required frequent, labour-intensive high-pressure work
- Heavy struvite encrustation covered the drum and other belt press surfaces
- All five of the plant’s belt filter presses experienced scale buildup
- Operators needed 3,500 psi water to loosen small pieces of hard scale
- Frequent scale removal placed a substantial labour burden on plant staff
Belt press struvite cleaning was the measure the trial was judged on. The unit treated the feed to a single Andritz press. Inspections over the 90 days tracked the cleaned drum surface for new growth, the thickness of the existing encrustation and how easily it came away when the operators power washed the press.
