Advanced Clarifier Design Increases Treatment Capacity at Miami Plant

WesTech Eng. Inc. of Salt Lake City has helped to increase the treatment capacity at the Miami Dade South District wastewater treatment plant in Florida by 60 million gal per day (mgd).

WesTech has supplied four new 195-ft-diameter clarifiers and retrofitted six additional 195-ft-diameter clarifiers with the proprietary clarifier optimization package design. All 10 clarifiers are now installed and online. The final two units were commissioned on Dec. 7, 2011.

Located in Miami, the plant had a peak flow capacity of 225 mgd. The new clarifiers are a key part of an expansion that will increase the plant capacity to a peak flow of 285 mgd to meet increased demand caused by regulatory requirements and population growth.

More stringent regulations have resulted in a mandate that the effluent from wastewater treatment plants in the area be upgraded to protect existing aquifers. The clarifier design offers capacity and efficiency improvements over conventional clarifiers.

“We have found that the clarifiers perform better than our old standard rake/no style of clarifiers,” Chief Plant Operator Steve Kronheim said. “The incorporation of the spiral bladed collection mechanism appears to provide a thicker underflow than delivered by our previous clarifiers.”

The clarifier design is the integration and coordination of several internal clarifier components for increased efficiency of primary and secondary clarification. The incorporation has helped make the plant one of the largest in the southeast.

Source: WesTech Eng. Inc.