Grinder Ends Septage Headache

Franklin Miller, Inc.

The Broward County Wastewater Treatment Plant in Pompano Beach, Fla., is a regional facility processing 80 million gal of wastewater every day. A septage receiving area, adjacent to the plant and across the street, is used for preprocessing and receiving septage from haulers. Proper treatment of this septage was a problem for the plant.

Every day, haulers with an average capacity of 4,000 gal per tanker truck continuously arrive at the pretreatment area and dump the effluent from septic tanks, portable toilets and other septage systems into a discharge bay. The septage then needs to be processed so that it passes smoothly through the pumps to the treatment facility.

“Previously a large bar screen captured the incoming debris, which was then removed to a dumpster,” said Curtis Preece, plant management supervisor. “Maintenance of the screen was costly because it had so many moveable parts. This also contributed to a lot of down time.”

”I knew there had to be a better way,” Preece added.

He attended a trade show and found exactly what he was looking for. “A light went on in my head when I saw the Taskmaster TM8500 ,” Preece said.

The Taskmaster is a rugged workhorse of a grinder. The unit’s twin shaft mechanism is especially rugged because it uses “cutter cartridges” instead of the standard individual cutter and spacer disks. This design gives it the extra strength needed to process tough septage materials.

“We installed it and did away with the bar screen altogether. It does the job completely,” Preece said.

The unit has offered dependable performance. Its powerful size reduction capabilities allow further processing at the plant, protects downstream process equipment and ensures that systems run smoothly.

“We're very pleased with our choice,” Preece said. “Maintenance is non-existent and we've saved a lot of money.”