How to Save Money When Buying pac for water treatment

16 Jun.,2025

 

An alternative to Poly Aluminum Chloride - Neo Water Treatment

April

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SUMMARY

The City of Dallas Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Georgia treats mainly municipal water in the City of Dallas and surrounding Paulding County just northwest of Atlanta. Dallas’s treatment process is a fairly typical conventional activated sludge plant with tertiary cloth media filters, and they had been using a form of Poly Aluminum Chloride (often abbreviated as PAC or PACL) in their mixed liquor and secondary clarifiers for phosphorus control.

In the summer of , the City of Dallas decided to evaluate alternative options for phosphorus control and decided to trial Neo WaterFX 300 because of the potential benefits in this system. In this application these benefits included a significant reduction in chemical usage, a more stable chemical, reduction in sludge sent for disposal, reduced need for caustic/alkalinity supplement, and algae control.

In May of the city of Dallas committed to a trial with Neo WaterFX to confirm these estimated benefits and after a few months of success they have decided to continue using Neo WaterFX and have been using it ever since.

Background

In , the City of Dallas joined the WaterFirst program which allowed them to access better terms for funding and also required strict effluent nutrient pollution limits and facility managment. Dallas had been using PAC to control phosphorus below their 1.0 mg/L TP limit. In the City of Dallas had an average flow of around 1.4 MGD (million gallons per day) and were using about 40-50 gallons per day of PAC to maintain phosphorus between 0.5 – 0.8 mg/L. However, in summer of after learning about the benefits of Neo WaterFX the City of Dallas personnel expressed concerns they were experiencing with PAC such as the sludge that a coagulant generates, the alkalinity consumed by an acidic coagulant, and the difficulty of using PAC when the weather gets cold.

TRIAL OVERVIEW

CHEMICAL P REMOVAL

The WaterFX 300 trial kicked off in May , WaterFX 300 was dosed directly into the aerobic zone and the PAC was suspended at the same time. Over the next few days the system reached a new equilibrium with a steady dose of coagulant and a steady effluent TP concentration around 0.5 mg/L.

Chemical Pre-May Post May PAC (gpd) 45-65 0 Caustic 50% (gpd) 101 74 WaterFX 300 (gpd) 0 13-18

Table 1 Average Chemical Dose

Effluent TP was maintained below their 1.0 mg/L limit during the transition and they were quickly able to scale back their use of caustic to maintain alkalinity, pH, and nitrogen removal within their desired ranges. Figure 2 below shows these chemical usages by day over the course of , , and .

Table 1 and Figure 2 reveal that the assumptions of reduced chemical consumption were correct. The City of Dallas was able to switch from an average 45-65 gallons per day of PAC to 13-18 gallons per day of WaterFX while achieving the same effluent quality and same phosphorus removal in their system. They were also able to reduce their caustic by about 25% due to the reduced volume of acidic coagulant use but they still require some caustic because their influent alkalinity is insufficient to support their nitrogen removal process.

For the full year after the trial began, a daily dose of about 16 gallons per day of WaterFX 300 replaced about 55 gallons of PAC and 25 gallons of caustic. Focusing on just the cost of these 3 chemicals, change to WaterFX is expected to save the City of Dallas about $10,000 per year at chemical prices.

SLUDGE REDUCTION

A secondary benefit of reducing coagulant chemical volume is reduced sludge production. Chemical coagulants like ferric chloride, PAC and aluminum sulfate (and WaterFX 300 to be fair) will generate approximately 0.5 lbs. of dry chemical sludge per solution pound of chemical added. When sludge is dewatered to 20% solids this 0.5 lbs. of dry sludge expands to 2.5 lbs. of wet chemical sludge per pound of chemical used. A facility like City of Dallas, using 55 gallons per day of PAC and dewatering to 16% solids, could be making around lbs., nearly 1 ton, per day of additional wet sludge just from the addition of the PAC. Consequently, they pay for the PAC twice, once to purchase it and again to dispose of the waste it generates. WaterFX 300 reduces this sludge simply by requiring less chemical to accomplish the same result, in this case 3 times less chemical.

Along with WaterFX 300 generating less chemical sludge, the City of Dallas found the benefit of improved dewatering in their screw press after switching from PAC. While using PAC at 55 gallons per day in the weeks before the trial, the belt press cake typically returned around 15.9% solids by weight. After switching to WaterFX 300, the belt press returned a dryer cake, at around 17.1%. This improvement from 15.9% to 17.1% represents an actual decrease of 7.5% reduction of total sludge just due to better dewatering.

The combination of generating less chemical sludge and dewatering to a higher %solids in the screw press directly resulted in fewer tons of biosolids sent to disposal. Since switching to WaterFX 300 the City of Dallas reports that they have measured about a 15% reduction in total sludge sent for disposal. This 15% reduction in sludge works out to nearly $40,000 in annual savings based on disposal prices in .

Additonal Benefits

Since switching to WaterFX 300 in , the City of Dallas WWTP also reports that they have appreciably noticed they are spending less time and money on cleaning algae out from the secondary clarifiers. This is likely due to the way WaterFX 300 binds to phosphorus and makes it unavailable for biological uptake, effectively starving the algae in their clarifiers from the limiting nutrient of phosphorus.

Another benefit that The City of Dallas has reported is that they don’t have to worry about the WaterFX freezing or gelling at low temperatures. Unlike PAC which can thicken and gel at 35°F, WaterFX 300 is stable and pumpable all the way down to -40°F. So WaterFX users in Georgia and even in Wisconsin can store WaterFX in unheated containers and not worry about colder temperatures taking away their ability to remove phosphorus.

Highlights while using WaterFX 300

  • TP was kept in total compliance with 13-18 gpd of WaterFX 300 vs 45-65gpd of PAC, which often required much higher than average doses to control upsets.
  • The need for caustic addition was reduced by 25%.
  • Screw press cake solids increased from about 15.9% to 17.1%
  • Total sludge was reduced by about 15% according to the facility.

RESULTS and CONCLUSION

There were multiple financial and operational benefits for the City of Dallas to continue using WaterFX instead of PAC:

  • The TP results were maintained below the low permit limit of 1.0 mg/L and lower throughout the trial period while using WaterFX 300 while consistently using 3-4 times less chemical coagulant.
  • The financial savings of changing to WaterFX 300 from PAC saved the facility approximately $50,000/year by reducing overall chemical volume and reducing sludge by 15%.
  • The facility noticed less algae growth in the clarifiers after switching to WaterFX
  • The operators also appreciate not worrying about disruption of chemical feed in lower temperatures.

During the entire trial period there were no reported instances of non-compliance and since that time the plant has been in total compliance with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) discharge permit while continuing to use WaterFX 300.

The City of Dallas WWTP is convinced that the WaterFX 300 trial was a success and is continuing to use the WaterFX 300 as their coagulant.

How to Improve the Energy Efficiency of Your Wastewater Treatment ...

The U.S. has close to 14,750 wastewater treatment plans, and they process the wastewater of residential and business wastewater that comes in from sewer lines, but approximately 20% of homes and businesses in the U.S. have septic systems that treat some wastewater within the system and the leach field. Every few years or even sooner, trucks pump out the septic tanks and haul the septage to a wastewater treatment facility.

The EPA estimates that wastewater treatment facilities process around 34 billion gallons of wastewater every day. This is an expensive endeavor when it comes to the cost of repairs, upgrades, and most importantly energy consumption. An estimated $2 billion a year is spent on electricity alone, with as much as 40% of a wastewater treatment plant’s operation budget covering that facility’s electricity bills.

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Across the nation, wastewater treatment facilities are setting goals to reduce their energy consumption while ensuring water meets the rigid standards required before the wastewater goes to oceans, ponds, rivers, streams, or water treatment plants for reuse. What are the best methods of reducing energy consumption?

Conduct an Energy Audit

An energy audit is the best step to take to identify areas where you can improve your plant’s efficiency. The EPA Office of Wastewater Management has a self-assessment tool to help you get started. The goals of an assessment are to reduce your energy consumption, reduce your operating costs, reduce water loss, reduce your facility’s carbon footprint, and improve the water infrastructure.

ENERGY STAR also offers energy-saving tips and guidance through the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. If your plant has room for improvement, you’ll get information on what efficiency improvements are going to help and learn more about how to prioritize the improvements. If your plant is efficient enough, you can save as much as 30% in a short time. Many facilities see improvements in just a few months.

Area electricity companies also frequently offer energy audits. You can ask your power company if they have any free energy audits available right now or coming up in the future.

Upgrade Older, Less Efficient Equipment

As you go through an energy audit, you learn what equipment is wasting the most energy. You can work with an expert in water treatment equipment to determine what equipment can help you save money and improve your water treatment process. What equipment should you consider?

A good rule of thumb is to look at the age of all of your equipment. Older pumps and motors are going to use more energy. Once you’ve come up with a chart of this information, consider which machines are down for repairs the most. You need to prioritize those. Here are the items that you should consider first.

  1. Heat Pumps

Heat pumps recover the heat generated during the wastewater treatment cycle and use that heat to preheat water sent to boilers where it requires less energy to heat enough for a heating system or hot water usage. Heat pumps can also help cool your building in hot weather.

  1. Variable Speed Drives

Variable speed drives are available on a lot of wastewater treatment equipment. If you have equipment that is just on or off with no change of speed throughout the day, it’s time to change that.

Your district’s wastewater flow rates increase when people come home from work, have dinner, and do the dishes. They’ve been out of the house all day, so it’s been relatively quiet. But, now that they’re using water for meals and cleaning up, doing the laundry, and taking baths or showers before bed, water usage increases, and that means water is coming into your plant faster.

Variable speed drives adjust for these increases. If water isn’t flowing in very quickly from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., drives could turn off until they’re needed for higher flow rates in the morning rush to get ready for work or school. They turn off again in the late mornings and afternoons when people are not home. That saves energy and wear and tear on your pumps and other motors.

You’ll also find variable speed drives on a screw pump. These pump liquid from one area to another without easily clogging. Open screw pumps can be up to 75% more efficient while operating and also require less maintenance, which also helps slash your bills. Type C enclosed screw pumps are up to 10% more efficient than open screw pumps.

  1. Submersible Mixers

A submersible mixer stirs up the wastewater in an anaerobic tank while reducing energy consumption. A stainless-steel propeller delivers high flow rates without needing extra electricity to run the motor.

  1. LED Lighting

If your plant has older fluorescent lighting, that type of lighting uses far more energy than efficient LED lighting. Switch to LED, which can be up to 90% more efficient, and see savings on your next bill. The switch to LED won’t cost a lot of money, and some power companies offer rebates and other incentives to help you make the switch.

In addition to LED lighting, consider adding motion sensors that detect when someone has left a room. This way, if a worker forgets to turn off the lights, it won’t matter. The lights will turn off automatically when there’s no movement in the room.

Tap Into Renewable Energy

If your plant isn’t using solar and wind power to help generate electricity, it’s time to consider making a change. There are many programs out there to help you embrace solar, wind, and even geothermal energy for less money.

For outdoor security lights, install solar lights. They have a separate panel that powers the lights by day and runs them all night. They’re helpful as you can install them anywhere and don’t need outlets or a power source nearby.

As your renewable energy system works, you’ll find your savings end up recouping the amount you spent on the system. From there, you gain pure savings that you can reinvest in additional upgrades or use to lower rates for the members in your district. 

Talk to an Expert in Water Treatment 

You’ll find there are many ways to improve your wastewater treatment plant’s energy efficiency, but it takes research and careful planning to make the best choices for your municipality. Work with experts in water treatment. 

Lakeside Equipment has close to 100 years in the water treatment industry. Our dedicated team of sales professionals, engineers, and technicians are here to meet your needs and complete all aspects of your plant’s upgrades from planning to on-site installation. We can even get the parts you need and ship them immediately.

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