Simple Septage Receiving

Dewatering plant owner markets receiving station to the industry
Simple Septage Receiving
Scott Meyer, right, the owner of Screenco Systems and inventor of the Dual Screen System, discusses the features of his receiving station with an attendee at the 2015 WWETT Show. The gravity system dewaters septage, filtering out garbage that collects atop screens and is manually raked into a collection device.

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Scott Meyer was stuck. An increase in volume at his Idaho septage dewatering plant, along with tighter cleanliness regulations for land-applied biosolids, left him struggling to keep up. That’s when he took matters into his own hands.

“Our screening system was constantly plugging with hair and rags, and having to stop periodically to clean it meant I couldn’t filter septage at the volume I needed to,” says Meyer. “I started tinkering with my own design, and that’s how Screenco Systems was born.”

Meyer’s high-capacity Dual Screen System, which made its commercial debut at the 2015 Water & Wastewater Equipment, Treatment & Transport (WWETT) Show, is constructed of aluminum with stainless steel screens, with collection sump and a high-capacity 6-inch drain. The screen has two 3/8-inch gapped stainless steel bar screens at opposing angles, providing a non-mechanical method to remove large pieces of trash, rocks and other debris.

“It’s really a simple design with no moving parts,” says Meyer. “When the septage is pumped in, trash and debris hit the deflector and end up on the bottom of the screen. Once it starts draining slower, the operator manually rakes it clean.”

This unit has a 4-inch telescoping inlet hose that moves laterally and can be easily connected to any vacuum truck or other flow stream. The system is portable, and the 19.5 square feet of screening area allows for continued use and is easy to rake clean to the garbage drain tray. It can treat over 500 gpm. Various-gapped screen sizes are available. It can be mounted above an open-pit settling pond or used in a stand-alone application. The station is easily cleaned with water; catwalk access enables easy cleaning and raking with an included stainless steel rake. Filtered garbage that collects atop screens can be raked into a wheelbarrow or container.

“We built and tested multiple designs, and have been beta testing this current version in commercial applications for the past 18 months,” says Meyer. “We use it every day at our dewatering plant, and we’ve seen cleaner biosolids, faster off-load times and improved productivity. We’ve run 35,000 gpd through our screen, and the biosolids are virtually garbage-free.”

While he’s been to several past Pumper & Cleaner Expos and the newly named WWETT Show, 2015 was Meyer’s first as an exhibitor. He says his goal coming into the week was simply to introduce the industry to his product.

“We aimed this system at people like me – septic pumpers and those that do their own dewatering, and small municipalities that dewater as part of their pretreatment,” he says. “I’m hoping to show them that there is a product out there that is simple and affordable. Judging by the positive reaction, a lot of guys have been dealing with the same issues I was.”

Meyer was excited by the response, and sold several units while on the exhibit floor. He says he’s already thinking about WWETT 2016, and promises to be back with a “bigger and even better” dual-screen design.

“I have a couple of upgrade ideas, including adding forklift skids to make the station more portable,” he says. “The guys I talked with at WWETT told me it was a great design at a good price. Hearing that kind of feedback is exciting.” 208/790-8770; www.screencosystems.com.



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