Located at the heart of the Green Island, about a two-hour drive west of Dublin, the Athlone wastewater plant treats the wastewater of 25,000 people. The dewatering process runs from eight to ten hours per day, producing 130–150 m3 of sludge per day. Irish Water’s Athlone Wastewater Treatment Plant improved the control of its sludge dewatering process with a state-of-the-art Valmet Sludge Dewatering Optimizer (Valmet SDO) and two online Valmet Total Solids Measurement units (Valmet TS).
We have been thrilled with the solution, and it is a good value for the money spent.
Jonathan Deane, Senior Engineer for Water, Environment and Climate Change at Westmeath County Council, Irish Water
We have been impressed by its accuracy and low maintenance.
Ger McIntyre, Wastewater Process Optimization Lead, Irish Water
The Athlone wastewater plant treats the wastewater of 25,000 people. The dewatering process runs from eight to ten hours per day, producing 130–150 m3 of sludge per day.
There was a constant need for the operators to continuously adjust the system parameters as inlet solids vary from 3% to 0.8% during the day.
One Valmet TS was installed to measure the sludge feed into the centrifuge and one to measure the dry cake outlet.
Valmet SDO applies the inputs from solids and centrifuge measurements provided by Valmet TS to optimize the dewatering process.
Results
Minimized the amount of solids in the centrate, while maximizing the solids content in the dry cake – Cake sludge is now approximately 18% dry solids as opposed to 15% dry solids during manual operation
Decreased haulage costs due to dryer sludge
Improved control of sludge dewatering process – 7% less energy on centrifuge
Better control of polymer dosing and centrifuge torque
Less operator input and laboratory sampling are required
