Saving over $230,000 a year with innovative dewatering solutions

When the Iron Bridge Regional Water Reclamation facility needed to increase sludge dewatering performance and capacity, they turned to the combined power of an Alfa Laval belt filter press with the Orege SLG system.

DATE 2023-11-28

The challenge

The Iron Bridge Regional Water Reclamation Facility (RWRF) is a 40 MGD facility that treats 25 MGD of wastewater and services about 400,000 people in Orlando, FL and surrounding areas. In recent years, the facility had experienced many changes in its undigested waste activated sludge (WAS) in addition to increased capacity needs. The plant manager was seeking to upgrade its existing belt filter presses and gravity belt thickeners to a solution that could maximize cake dryness and increase capacity for sludge dewatering.

The solution

After consulting with Alfa Laval, the team at the Iron Bridge RWRF decided to take a two-pronged approach to tackle their performance and capacity challenges.

They made the decision to upgrade their belt filter press fleet with two new Alfa Laval AS-H Klampress 3-belt units, which will bring their total to five units once commissioned later in 2021. The unique 3-belt design allows for additional gravity thickening in the same footprint as a standard 2-belt design.

These units will operate three at a time, in cooperation with a corresponding Orege SLG 400 sludge pre-treatment system, allowing the plant to maximize its cake dryness. The SLG is a compact patented system designed to change the rheology of the sludge using compressed air, freeing up water trapped in the sludge structures and making it easier to dewater.  It is simple, but incredibly effective, often achieving a 1-2% or more increase in cake solids. This can mean huge savings in disposal costs. 

Benefits

Three SLG 400 units will handle over 50,000 wet tons of biosolids annually and increase final cake solids by 1.8%. This will reduce costs by more than $230,000 in the first year alone and potentially lower costs even more in future years as flow increases and as the belt filter presses are optimized.

The flexible lease-to-own financing option offered by Orege made the SLG solution attainable and fundable from the savings achieved in the process.

How can you harness the power of Alfa Laval and Orege?

If your wastewater process can benefit from increased dryness or throughput in a belt filter press dewatering operation, contact our experts. They will work with you to evaluate your process, test your sludge and set you on a course to understanding how you can take advantage of the extensive combined knowledge gained from decades of experience.  Alfa Laval and Orege have a global partnership of working together to offer the combined power of belt filter press and SLG solutions. 

Related Products:

AS-H Klampress 3-belt

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The Alfa Laval AS-H G3 belt filter press dewaters high volume throughputs of low solids feed into high solids dry cake. It is available in a number of configurations that can be customized to your wastewater dewatering needs.

Click here to learn more

Orege SLG sludge pre-treatment system

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The Orege SLG uses proprietary equipment and methods to alter the properties of your sludge. This allows it to shed water more easily and increases dryness by 2% or more or allows increased throughput on your dewatering or thickening equipment.

Click here to learn more