With the drastically increasing population and industries, the demand for clean water has never been more critical. Industrial water treatment systems play a significant role in harnessing usable clean water from industrial wastewater. These water treatment systems can remove unwanted impurities and contaminants from water sources and make water suitable for consumption and other purposes. Thus, it becomes highly important that these industrial water treatment systems work at full capacity and efficiency with no degradation in performance.
As these water treatment systems work continuously to treat wastewater, they are subject to constant wear and tear which results in severe erosion of critical components. The impurities and pollutants build up in the treatment process and cause a decline in performance over time. To ensure the efficient performance of these systems and meet water quality standards, frequent maintenance is inevitable.
The regular maintenance services include inspecting, cleaning, repairing, and replacing the worn-out parts. Equipment like filters, pumps, membranes, and chemical dosing parts may require special attention to eliminate any malfunctioning and optimize efficiency.
This require repeat visits of maintenance team for parts and services which increases the maintenance cost. One way to make improvements in your wastewater treatment system, leverage advanced technology, and save time & buying instead of buying new is with a retrofitting service for your water treatment systems. In this article, we will go through all the benefits of retrofitting services for your water treatment systems.
The retrofitting service in water treatment system refers to updating or upgrading existing equipment, machines, or infrastructure for better performance, less maintenance cost, meeting new regulatory requirements, or managing changes in the type of volume of wastewater being treated. There can be numerous modifications in the retrofitting process such as upgrading equipment, process optimisation, capacity expansion, energy efficiency improvements, installing energy efficient machinery, integrating modern control systems and automation, and others.
Retrofitting a wastewater treatment plant can be beneficial in numerous ways:
Highly impactful and low-cost improvements are highly beneficial for increasing the efficiency of a wastewater treatment plant. For e.g. increases the headworks process efficiency (the facilities at which wastewater enters the treatment plant, consisting of bar screens, shredders, grinders, etc.) can prevent the aggregation of bypassed sedimentation and debris downstream. This accumulation hugely affects the efficiency of water treatment in all downstream processes. If this buildup gets removed, it will significantly improve the downstream units’ performance that too without making any significant upgrades in the units themselves. Retrofits that lead to minimum structural changes are highly preferable for wastewater treatment plants. The cost-effective solutions can protect downstream operations while improving overall plant efficiency. For e.g., the worn-out screens at the headwork can be retrofitted by a mechanically cleaned screen, a manual bar screen, and a grit-removal system.
Effluent standards demand the removal of surplus nutrients, such as phosphate and nitrogen. Generally, the BNR ( Biological Nutrient Removal) is the preferred choice for avoiding regular addition of chemical costs linked with coagulation addition. However, using IFAS (Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge) in the retrofitting of your system will increase the nutrient removal efficiency by just adding media. The IFAS treatment is highly suited for water treatment plants as there is limited space.
Retrofitting the machinery with an energy-efficient alternative is much more cost-efficient during the lifecycle of your wastewater treatment plant. For instance, a reinforced concrete inflow pipe will suffer corrosion with time and require replacement with corrosion-resistant PVC. However, in retrofitting this pipe will not be replaced but will coat the interior with a plastic liner to prevent sulfide corrosion. If the pipe’s size still fulfils the predicted demand, retrofitting can result in significant cost savings.
It is easier to manage operations in a retrofitting project vis a vis developing a new facility. You can collaborate with the existing staff and the treatment becomes easier to maintain throughout the retrofit process. There is no need to put a lot of regulatory efforts into this technique as the plant can work using the same discharge location for wastewater being already used by the water treatment facility.
In a new installation, there is always a certain amount of construction associated which increases the amount of risk. Also, any man-made disaster during these activities can impact the reliability of potable water supply for all the flora and fauna. Retrofitting service reduces such risks as there is negligible new construction associated with it.
There are certain points that you must consider before beginning a retrofitting service project at your wastewater treatment plant.
Compatibility Assessment: Before retrofitting services initiation, you must thoroughly assess the compatibility of the replacement items with your existing system. There are factors like size, configuration, system compatibility, and others to consider.
We at WIPROWATER have a huge team of experts with in-depth knowledge and experience in water treatment systems. Our expertise ensures that the retrofitting process is carried out efficiently and accurately. We deliver customised solutions that are especially curated to the specific needs of the existing water treatment system. Our track record of successful projects also demonstrates our ability to effectively upgrade water treatment systems and overcome any arising barrier. We also provide ongoing support and maintenance after the retrofitting service is complete for the smooth operation of the upgraded system.