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The East Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is a 4.6 million gallons per day (MGD) conventional facility
located on the Tennessee River in Guntersville, Alabama. The plant is near completion of a $5 million expansion
which includes new fine screens, grit removal (w/ screenings and grit dewatering) at the headworks; multi-vane
centrifigual blowers, fine bubble diffusers in the aeration basins; ultra-violet disinfection (UV); and new solids
handling equipment. During the preliminary engineering phase, the Owner was faced with several issues for meeting
sludge dewatering challenges. The main challenge for the Guntersville Water Board and Operations personnel was how
to double the capacity of their existing facilities and minimize future capital and operational cost impacts.
In order to do so, three feasible options were reviewed: (1) Demolition of both existing 1.0 meter presses (20 +
years old) and installing two-2.0 meter presses, (2) Demolition of one existing 1.0 meter press and installation of
a new Centrifuge Unit and (3) Demolition of both existing 1.0 meter press units and installation of a new Centrifuge
Unit, thus providing room for a future second unit. The Owner chose Option 3 for various reasons including capital
costs, operational, and maintenance issues.
The new Centrifuge has been operational for 6 months and has done a superior job. During the evaluation process the
Owner had decided to conduct a pilot study onsite, and the results of this analysis will be presented. In addition,
post installation operational data will be summarized and compared to the previous belt press units and their
performance. Additionally, this paper will highlight the equipment, design and construction process, and present
the improvement in solids concentrations in the cake solids and lower hauling costs.
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