Challenge

Sheffield Utilities, a public utility owned by the City of Sheffield in northwest Alabama, operates a 6 MGD facility which utilises an extended aeration process to treat its waste water.

The facility was originally operating without fine screening, but in 2002 the City of Sheffield proposed to improve the operations, by upgrading its headworks and retained the services of Bill Cobb and Associates to design and prepare the tender documents for a new head works facility.

The choice of the screen and compactor supplier was very important to Plant Manager Randy Burrows and his team. Their goal was to improve operations while reducing the maintenance costs to a minimum.

Solution

The consulting engineer proposed to use a fine screen to reduce the plant loading and remove the maximum amount of non-biological material before processing the raw effluent at the facility.

Sheffield Utilities chose the Spaans Babcock MC 56 Fine Screen and a screenings compactor to be installed at the plant. The design has a traveling, continuous filter band screen, a proven design that has been the screen of choice in hundreds of municipal plants worldwide.

The Spaans Babcock fine screen offers a superior performance to traditional filter band type screens due to its proprietary block design. With this design, filter blocks can be easily removed for maintenance, with the screen remaining in continuous operation.

Outcome

Randy Burrows commented positively on the experience: “We have improved our process while minimising additional maintenance. The solids removal has improved markedly.

Spaans Babcock was efficient and responsive throughout the project, and their people made sure that the system was running smoothly.”