SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS
The Springfield Metro Sanitary District (SMSD) was formed in 1924 to address the challenges of a growing community where raw sewage flowed into the streams and ditches, threatening the drinking water supply and creating unpleasant conditions. The district’s first action was to build the Spring Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, which came online in 1928 to serve Springfield and surrounding towns. The Spring Creek plant was built as a conventional activated sludge facility. In 2012, it was converted to vertical-loop reactor (VLR) technology, essentially an oxidation ditch turned on its side. The process consists of a series of reactors operated in aerobic, anoxic and anaerobic conditions to facilitate and optimize the removal of organics and nutrients. The Challenge At the original facility, plant operators and support team manually pulled samples for laboratory analysis from the various treatment stages numerous times a day to confirm that the plant was performing in accordance with its permit. The lab measurements also enabled operators to monitor process efficiency and make needed adjustments. The process was effective but labor intensive and based on methods developed decades ago when treatment requirements were less stringent. The Solution In the early 2000s, the district began planning for upgrades of the Spring Creek plant to address increased demand and meet new regulatory guidelines for phosphorus and nitrogen. The team selected the IQ SensorNet (IQSN) monitoring and control system from YSI. It provides real-time, continuous monitoring anywhere in the process for up to 20 wastewater parameters. The system continuously monitors DO, pH and ORP at various process stages to maintain optimum conditions for nitrification, denitrification and biological phosphorus removal. The primary advantage of the system to the Spring Creek team was the system’s ability to communicate with the SCADA system over Profibus. It was important to monitor the parameters necessary to meet the new permit limits, but tying the data back into the SCADA for ultimate control brought the renovated plant to a new level of efficiency and effectiveness. For Brian Tucker, SMSD operations supervisor, the automation and efficiency that the YSI IQSN provided, and the ease with which it is installed and implemented, meant a level of monitoring and control that wasn’t possible earlier in his career.
Objective: Maximizing Efficiency
Spring Creek employees reviewing data on the YSI IQ SensorNet 2020 XT Controller
Acknowledgements: Many thanks to Brian Tucker, SMSD Operations Supervisor, for providing his experience with the IQ SensorNet system and sensors. The Sugar Creek facility is in the early stages of a $54.4 million upgrade, complete with an IQ SensorNet monitoring and control system, tied into SCADA. It will provide necessary improvements to Spring Creek’s sister facility and both operations will have cutting edge technology that will establish them as a model water resource recovery facility (WRRF).
7
Case Studies and Solutions
YSI Wastewater. Proven. Trusted.
Powered by FlippingBook