Scada aids the extraction of sludge
October 2005
SCADA/HMI
Few people realise what huge volumes of sludge are produced in the process of water purification - and the problems associated with the disposal thereof. A definition for sludge, as found during a water purification process, is best found in the Oxford Dictionary "thick, soft, wet mud or similar viscous mixture...." During the sedimentation phase of raw water treatment, suspended particles (mainly clay and fine particulate matter) are removed from the water. These particles form the basis of the sludge, and together with the residue of chemicals used during coagulation and flocculation, constitute the waterwork's sludge.
At Zuikerbosch Water Purification Plant, sludge is scoured from the sedimentation tanks and pumped approximately 2,5 km to Panfontein sludge disposal site for treatment. Depending on the solids consistency, this varies between 600 and 1000 dry tons. The raw sludge is stored in a balancing pond where mechanical agitation keeps the solids in suspension. An anionic polyelectrolite flocculant is added to the raw sludge, flocculation occurs, and aggregration of the solids causes a phases separation within the sludge. These solids particles settle to the base where mechanical moving rakes scrape the thickened sludge to the centre. Underflow pumps extract this product for dispersion onto the sludge air dry paddocks in cycles, where it is left to dry.
Clear supernatant water recovered during this treatment process can be as high as 90 to 95% of the raw sludge volume, and is recycled to Zuikerbosch for reprocessing with the raw water.
This whole process is automated and this is where FactoryLink scada comes into play. The density and pH of the incoming raw sludge is measured and calculated to control the dosing pumps to apply the correct amount of flocculant for treatment of the sludge. Parameters like mud bed levels, pump status, flow, turbidity, set points, hydraulic pressure, etc, are monitored continuously and displayed on a computer monitor. Alarm conditions including, pump trip, over/under levels, temperature, sump overflow and various critical set points are recorded in the SQL Server database (standard with FactoryLink) from where reports can be generated and printed on hard copy.
There is a need, from time to time, to fine tune the process and because changes can be made while FactoryLink is on-line, there is no need to stop the process thus eliminating production losses.
For more information contact Johan de Villiers, Process & Information Technologies, 012 664 6622.
Further reading:
Software-defined automation is overcoming hardware interoperability limits
Schneider Electric South Africa
SCADA/HMI
Schneider Electric’s Kobus Vermeulen and Sydney Higgo explain how open communication standards and software-defined architectures are enabling industrial operators to integrate legacy equipment, new control systems, and cloud platforms without disrupting operations.
Read more...
Siemens modernises WinCC Unified engineering
SCADA/HMI
Siemens has launched SIMATIC AX WinCC Unified Elements, an IT-style engineering application for the WinCC Unified system that lets automation engineers build and deploy visualisation projects using code-based workflows, Git integration and AI-generated configuration
Read more...
The control room used to run one plant, now it runs the world
SCADA/HMI
Industrial control rooms are evolving from single-site interfaces into network-wide command centres. Modern SCADA and HMI platforms now deliver real-time visibility, dynamic forecasting and cross-facility coordination, fundamentally reshaping how industrial operations achieve resilience.
Read more...
Effective alarm management for safer, more productive operations
Adroit Technologies
SCADA/HMI
Adroit Technologies addresses alarm flooding and nuisance alarms with its Adroit Alarm Management solution.The platform combines performance dashboards, mobile escalation via Adroit AIR, and an integrated digital logbook to turn alarms into actionable operational intelligence.
Read more...
What you need is a nerve centre for your building
Schneider Electric South Africa
SCADA/HMI
Schneider Electric’s Anoop Hariparsad explains how a building management system acts as a single nerve centre, cutting energy use and improving safety and guest experience.
Read more...
How a digital foundation can overcome the LNG trilemma
Schneider Electric South Africa
IT in Manufacturing SCADA/HMI
The LNG sector is racing to add capacity, but without a digital backbone, growth creates complexity rather than capability. Christophe Begat of Schneider Electric explains how connecting data, systems and analytics across the LNG value chain can resolve the trilemma of secure supply, lower emissions and tighter costs.
Read more...
Full HD industrial AI panel PC
Vepac Electronics
SCADA/HMI
Powered by the NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX, the NIKY-2215-NX industrial AI panel PC provides up to 100 TOPS of AI performance through the module’s 1024-core NVIDIA Ampere architecture GPU.
Read more...
When SCADA meets the cloud
Omniflex Remote Monitoring Specialists
SCADA/HMI
Engineers are faced with the challenge of unifying legacy SCADA systems with modern, IoT-based data platforms. The trouble is, when hardware from multiple manufacturers and generations are all used in the same system, compatibility becomes an issue
Read more...
Adroit Technologies strengthens Sasol Synfuels operations with digitalisation
Adroit Technologies
SCADA/HMI
Adroit Technologies has reinforced its position as a trusted digitalisation partner to the petrochemical and mining sectors through its longstanding collaboration with Sasol Synfuels.
Read more...
Adroit Technologies champions sustainable, scalable industrialisation across Africa
Adroit Technologies
SCADA/HMI
Adroit Technologies has reaffirmed its commitment to accelerating Africa’s industrial growth through resilient, affordable and future-ready digital solutions for utilities, manufacturing and process industries.
Read more...
printer friendly version