The management of the Flos sewage treatment plant near Zurich, places a high value on innovation coupled with efficiency. They invest some 350 000 Swiss francs every year into projects and, thanks to an efficient operations management, have been able to improve their efficiency all the time.
Prepared for future challenges
Specific projects for the next few years include the extension of the thermal power station to make use of the biogas generated during the anaerobic digestion of the sewage sludge, as well as new solutions for the transportation of the sludge. Also in the pipeline are plans for a fifth stage of the treatment process for the separation of micro-pollutants. Sooner or later, the operators of sewage treatment plants will be faced with tight limits for nanoparticles – the Flos plant will be ready when it happens. “This is an explosive topic,” explains operations manager, Markus Sobaszkiewicz. “The effect of nanoparticles on the environment is still largely unknown.”
Thumbs up to an innovative sliding gate valve technology from Schubert & Salzer
Sobaszkiewicz is convinced that the challenges of the future will only be overcome by using innovative technologies. He and his team stick to this philosophy consistently when it comes to renovating existing parts of the plant, such as the modification of the aeration tank. Conventional pneumatic gate valves were previously used in this area for the control of the oxygen supply, but these could not provide the required degree of control accuracy. Therefore, replacing these units with just another conventional product was no option. As he explains: “We took our problem to Bachofen (sales agency for Schubert & Salzer Control Systems in Switzerland), who surprised us with an unconventional proposal to solve the issue of controlling the oxygen supply. The specialists in the Fluid Control and Pneumatics Department recommended that we install pioneering sliding gate valves which should significantly reduce energy consumption.”
Minimal tolerance – maximum savings in energy consumption
The operations manager took a keen interest in the idea. After a joint visit to one of Bachofen’s customers who was already using this technology, he made the decision to take a chance on an unconventional solution. The result proved him right: “By using those sliding gate valves, it is now possible to control the air requirement for optimal micro-organism action with a maximum deviation of one per cent, a precision we have never achieved before.” The effect of the new solution on energy consumption is substantial. The operator of the Flos plant was able to say with satisfaction that, compared with measurements taken the previous year, energy consumption had dropped by five to ten per cent. And there is still scope for making more savings, according to Sobaszkiewicz.
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