Ledcor Environmental Solutions / Clear Choice Wastewater Treatment Plant

Ledcor Environmental Solutions / Clear Choice Wastewater Treatment Plant

The 48-foot mobile electrocoagulation wastewater treatment plant from Ledcor Environmental Solutions/Clear Choice Wastewater Treatment works without filters or hazardous chemicals, simultaneously treating septage, portable restroom waste, and fats, oil and grease within minutes.

"Ledcor provides all the equipment and Clear Choice does the permitting. What we accomplish on one-quarter acre would take a conventional wastewater treatment plant eight acres," says John Mitchell, director of operations for Clear Choice and operator of the prototype plant in Kingman, Ariz. The plant is available to companies pumping 30,000 gpd or more. There is no capital expenditure for users. Companies sign a five-year contract and pay Clear Choice a tipping fee, usually 30 to 50 percent less than landfill or municipal wastewater treatment plant fees.

The automated system allows pumpers to offload any time with a swipe of an access card. Drawing air through carbon scrubbers controls odors. "Our plant is 197 feet from a neighborhood and we've had no complaints," Mitchell says.

After coarse screening, septage flows to a holding tank before being pumped through a coarse screen that filters particles to 1/32 inch. Trash goes to a containment bagger for disposal.

Prior to entering the 30,000 to 65,000 gpd electrocoagulation (EC) cell, the influent is monitored for turbidity and dosed with brine for conductivity. The EC cell is supplied with direct current to remove suspended solids, soluble contaminants such as heavy metals, and kills over 99 percent of pathogens.

Leaving the EC cell, the waste-water is dosed with polymer to flocculate the coagulated contaminants for separation. Hydrogen and oxygen gas bubbles bring solids to the surface, while effluent is pumped out the bottom to an aboveground tank for disposal in the city sewer or recirculated to the holding tank.

A sludge pump sends sludge from the clarifier to two external dewatering tanks. Liquid returns to the headworks, while cake at 6 percent solids goes to the landfill. The Kingman plant processes wastewater at a flow rate between 20 and 45 gpm.

Kingman's discharge limits are 300 mg/L for biological oxygen demand (BOD) and total suspended solids (TSS). "Our numbers are consistently meeting discharge requirements," Mitchell says.

Mitchell uses production water, recycled in the closed-loop system, to clean the receiving station and thin thick septage. 877/770-2618; www.ccwt.info



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