Arizona Detention Center Upgrades Disc Filtration System

Background

Located in Eloy, Arizona, the Eloy Detention Center was prompted to perform routine maintenance on their wastewater treatment plant after nine years of continuous operation. To complete this maintenance, one treatment plant would need to be taken offline with flow diverted to a second treatment plant. This would also require the disc filtration system to handle the high solids generated by the combined flow of both treatment plants. The Eloy wastewater treatment facility includes two 4-stage biological nutrient removal plants with a capacity of 214,000 gallons per day (GPD) serving 1500 inmates and guards.

Challenge

Evoqua’s DAVCO℠ field-service team was contracted to perform this routine maintenance, which would require equipment inspection, the draining of tanks and recoating of the inside of the tanks. During inspection, the existing disc filtration system was found to have operational and mechanical issues which required a solution before plant maintenance could begin.

Solution

In order to satisfy the plant’s tertiary filtration requirements, it was recommended by Evoqua’s DAVCO field-service team that the Forty-X™ Disc Filter Armor series two-disc pilot unit would be an ideal plug and play solution. The Forty-X Disc Filter Armor series from the DAVCO product line of Evoqua combines outside-in and inside-out filtration technologies into a single PLC controlled unit. Influent water flows through an integrated pre-screen (outside-in) into woven optimum tertiary mesh (OTM) filter panels (inside-out) utilizing 316L stainless steel threads. This innovative combination of two filtration technologies into one unit provides an effective and robust option for those difficult applications.

During the three months of scheduled maintenance, the Forty-X Disc Filter Armor series pilot unit provided superior filtration performance and easily handled the influent flow, previously treated by the two existing four-disc units. Treatment flows were as high as 500 gallons per minute (GPM) with a turbidity level above 100 NTU

The Forty-X™ Disc Filter is capable of handling a peak flow of 500 GPM while maintaining an effluent quality of <10mg/L TSS and NTU exceeding the required limits.

Results

After maintenance was completed, the facility chose to further evaluate performance for a permanent tertiary filtration solution with Valentine Engineering also assisting.

The Forty-X Disc Filter series unit consistently provided treatment of a peak flow of 500 million gallons per day (MGD) while maintaining an effluent quality of <10 mg/l TSS and NTU, exceeding the required limit. In conclusion, the Forty-X Disc Filter Armor series was an idea cost-effective, efficient filtration solution providing easy operation and maintenance.

Evoqua’s DAVCO field-service team performed the rehab work at the plant within budget and ahead of the project timeline, while keeping the plant’s effluent stream in compliance.