Hach announced the grand prize winners of the second annual See the BIG Picture contest at WEFTEC 2011 on Oct. 18 in Los Angeles. Cranberry Township (Pa.) Brush Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, a municipal wastewater facility, and Arkema Inc., a producer of industrial chemicals, were each awarded $50,000 in Hach equipment.
The Cranberry Township plant will receive a variety of equipment for lab verification, portable spot-checking, and real-time online instrumentation. Plant personnel will use the package for monitoring ammonia and phosphorus levels throughout the treatment process, enabling better process control decisions and generating data for use in designing the next plant expansion, which will likely need to meet a total nitrogen limit in its permit.
The plant has also been awarded a WIMS system to help manage the new data generated by the equipment, and to produce information the team will use in their mission to “return the finest quality of effluence back into the environment.”
Arkema, based in King of Prussia, Pa., will receive a BioTector B7000 TOC analyzer to enhance process monitoring. The device will allow the company to obtain continuous process monitoring of incoming flows to the wastewater system and provide verification of proper biological treatment. The plant staff will strategically position the equipment to enable automatic continuous sampling of a few critical streams, along with a separate manual port for other streams within the plant that will require periodic analysis.
The contest, which began on April 19, offered one municipal and one industrial wastewater treatment plant the chance to receive $50,000 in Hach equipment by creating a video or slide presentation explaining how new equipment could improve their treatment processes. Entries were judged on creativity, expected results from the products requested, expected impact of the award, and the extent of need.
Eight other plants remain in the running for the Fan Favorite prize of $40,000 in equipment. This prize will be awarded to one facility based on public votes at hach.com/bigpicture. Voting is open through Nov. 13. Hach will announce the winner on Nov. 15.
The contest is designed to help municipal wastewater treatment plants and industrial sites understand the benefits of increasing their nutrient monitoring to optimize their nitrogen and phosphorus removal.
More frequent monitoring will help plants "see the big picture” of their operations, reducing chemical and energy costs while helping to address a sensitive environmental issue. Currently most plants only do periodic, required nutrient monitoring and so cannot adjust chemical dosing or aeration to the specific changes occurring in real time, according to Hach.
