Full Description

Although pilot plants have traditionally been used in the drinking water treatment industry for a variety of reasons including evaluation of current and new treatment technologies, few have been designed specifically for operator training purposes. The pilot water filtration plant in the Environmental Training Center (ETC) at Penn State Harrisburg (PSH) was primarily designed to address the need for hands-on operator training. The pilot treatment unit operations include coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and ozonation. The treatment train operates at an average flow rate of two gallons per minute (GPM) and a maximum flow rate of 4 GPM. Tank and piping layout allow the possibility of alternative treatment process configurations such as direct or in-line filtration to be included. Various sampling locations are located throughout the treatment train to collect water samples for analysis. Online plant instrumentation and data collection used in full-scale operations are included for operator use. All unit process tanks are constructed of clear acrylic allowing operators the opportunity to see into the tanks. This reinforces concepts addressed in the classroom during training workshops. After training, operators can better understand the reasons necessary to make operational adjustments at their facilities if called upon to do so. They will also review and analyze the data collected throughout the treatment runs and analyze it to make necessary operational adjustments. Before training workshops could be developed, considerable effort went into determining doses of clay and coagulants, which were needed to quickly and dramatically demonstrate treatment principals to trainees. Discussion also includes unique design considerations that differentiate a training oriented plant from research plants, problems encountered with the low operating flow rate of 2 GPM, and the operator training course manuals and materials that were developed for the use of the pilot unit as a hands-on training tool. Includes 3 references, tables, figures.

Product Details

Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 06/16/2002 Number of Pages: 13 File Size: 1 file , 400 KB