Hawk Orca Sonar Sludge Blanket Detectors at Woodman Point WWTP
Munster, WA
A key consideration of the SBR (sequencing batch reactor) operation at Woodman Point Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is the settling of the sludge and subsequent decant. The duration of the settle phase and the speed of decant have to be set to try and ensure that the sludge blanket has dropped far enough beneath the water surface so that solids are not re-entrained into the plant effluent during decant. This is a particularly critical consideration when the basins are operated in three-basin mode with one tank offline.
Provision of an online blanket sensor would enable the operators to see how the blanket falls during every cycle and make adjustments to operating parameters. Hawk’s Orca Sonar Sludge Blanket Detector is able to detect the fine ‘flocc’ layer in SSTs as well as a thicker sludge layer at the tank bottom. Hawk units have been successfully trialled at Beenyup WWTP and are due to be sourced for the upcoming Module 4 SST installation.