Sludge Blanket & TS Concentration Measurement by Cerlic
The market's broadest product program for sludge.
- Admin
- April 18, 2023
- 3:03 pm
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Biosolids and biogases are two byproducts of the modern wastewater treatment process’s sludge extraction cycle. The goal of plant optimization is to maximize the amount of these byproducts. The processes involved, however, are both costly and time consuming. Efficiency and economy can be greatly improved by incorporating better, real-time control of sludge pathways throughout the entire wastewater treatment cycle. Cerlic has developed the market’s broadest range of solutions for online, automated measurement of TSS concentration in various sludge processes, including sludge blanket profile (depth vs concentration in clarifiers/thickeners).
Applications
Gravity Thickener
The capacity of a gravity thickener can be significantly increased by automating sludge blanket measurements. Pumping a higher TS concentration into a digestion chamber when the sludge in the chamber heats up can result in significant energy savings. In this manner, unnecessary volumes of water are avoided, and the gas yield is increased. This can be accomplished by allowing the sludge blanket meter to determine when to start the pumps. When the sludge blanket is low, the pumps do not start; they only start when the selected sludge blanket is reached. As a result, not only is a higher TS level obtained, but also one that is more uniform, which benefits the digestion process.
Mechanical Thickener
The TS level is increased prior to the digestion chamber via mechanical thickening to avoid heating up unnecessary water and to improve digestion grade. Cerlic employs microwave technology on the inlet sludge to the digestion chamber to ensure mechanical thickening function. This allows the total solids concentration to be checked prior to digestion and the thickener’s performance to be improved. Measurement of TS before and after thickening saves polymer and provides a check on the TS content before it enters the digestion chamber.
Clarifier
Cerlic ITX-IL measures sludge in line, allowing it to control the process early on. A threshold value is set to prevent excessive amounts of water from being pumped from the clarifiers. If the TS level falls too low, this value disables the pumps. If the pumps kept pumping, the excess water would have to be treated. As a result, energy consumption increases, polymer dosage increases, and transportation costs increase.
Product Overview
CMC Microwave Total Solids Meter
The CMC high concentration suspended solids meter is an excellent tool for measuring TS concentrations in waste water treatment and biosolids applications in real time. The CMC’s microwave true-phase technology measurement principle has been proven to provide high measurement accuracy over a wide range of TS concentrations. The rugged design with no moving parts ensures long uptime and low maintenance. The meter is suitable for in-line and DN50-DN300 pipes.
CBX Automatic Sludge Blanket Meter
Cerlic CBX detects the blanket using a near infrared (NIR) suspended solids sensor that travels through fluff layers until it reaches the predetermined blanket solids concentration. Sensor is depressed in response to a rake limit switch or timer pulse. Concentration can be adjusted in the field. After each cycle, the cable and sensor are automatically flushed with water.
Multitracker
The Multitracker is a portable instrument for several parameters. You can choose your sensor for suspended solids or sludge level, and easily change the sensor by means of a simple contact connection. Two different alarm levels can be set for min/max value with vibration and acoustic signal. It had a data logger to store up to 250 samples, which can easily be transferred to your computer via the contact connection.
ITX Suspended Solids Sensor
ITX sensors are used to measure suspended solids in liquids in real time. Depending on the process, ITX levels can reach up to 20 000 mg/l. The sensor is used in aeration basins, return sludge troughs, primary clarifiers, and other applications.
ITX-IL In-line Suspended Solids Sensor
The in-line sensor comes with a 1 1/2″ SS isolation valve with a mechanical stop. The sensor is used to continuously measure suspended solids in RAS, WAS, MLSS, and other systems.
CTX-LC Low Suspended Solids Sensor
The CTX-LC is a low suspended solids sensor that measures suspended solids in real time. For applications with very low consistency, the sensor has a high accuracy level. Suitable to be used in municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants for final effluent and reuse water applications.
Your Benefit? Better Process Control
Better process control of clarifiers
- Early warning of settling problems in the clarifier
- Measures Both Blanket and Fluff levels for better control
of clarifier - Prevention of sludge wash out alleviates effluent TSS
problems - Blanket can be more accurately controlled which gives
more consistent RAS concentrations - Higher and more consistent RAS/WAS concentrations
helps thickeners operate more effectively. - Real time measurement, 24 hours per day, 365 days a year
Optimization of thickeners
- Higher and more consistent sludge concentrations
will have a positive impact on the following treatment
processes - Increased sludge concentration means less volume to
process - Better supernatant quality decreases internal recirculation
and reduces biological process upsets - Lower energy costs for heating of digesters and increased
gas production - Less sludge volume reduces hauling costs
