Pulsar ultrasonics are no slouch to sludge 07 December 2011

Wessex Water is reporting success with seven new sludge blanket monitors, from Pulsar Process Measurement, at its Christchurch sewage treatment works.

Area scientist Tony Towler explains that the Sludge Finders' acoustic technology replaced outmoded dipping probes, which were unreliable and led to poor control of the system.

At Christchurch, the final settlement tanks are set up to run at an ideal sludge blanket level of 15—20% of tank depth, controlled by RAS (return activated sludge) valves. Before the change, the dipping probes had been showing spikes or flatlines that were activating the RAS valves unnecessarily.

Changing to Pulsar's non-contacting ultrasonic technology, with its self-cleaning Viper transducer, has resulted in increased reliability of the reading.
"[That] means we can control the process more accurately, and makes it easier for us to comply with the environmental consents," states Towler.

Indeed, he states that the improvement in RAS valve control has led to a 30% reduction in power consumption.

The Sludge Finder signal is fed back to a local PLC adjustable by an HMI for control of RAS valves and also on to the data display system (Scope-x), which can be accessed remotely for monitoring and trending.

Brian Tinham

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