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Case Study for Customer Location WY52:

Audio Testimonial:

Reservoir or Lake Use:
Municipal wastewater treatment system for 1200 residents in the city. Most critical discharge permit limits are: 4.1 mg/L ammonia-N, summer, 10.1 mg/L ammonia-N winter, 30 mg/L BOD, 50 mg/L total suspended solids (TSS).

System Overview and Reservoir:
Flow rate through system is 0.12 MGD, with 100% of the flow to Pond 1, then to Pond 2, then Pond 3. System has controlled periodic discharge. Total system detention time is 29 days. Pond 1: 0.5 acres, 8 ft deep, 0.8M gallons, loading is 480 lbs of BOD/acre/day, has installed 30 hp of grid aeration, was operating it 24 hours per day. Pond 2: 0.5 acres, 8 ft deep, 0.8M gallons, has installed 15 hp of grid aeration, was operating it 24 hours per day. Pond 3: 1.1 acres, 8 ft deep, 2.0M gallons, has no grid aeration.

Reported Problem Before Installation:
High ammonia, some odors, high BOD and TSS, energy costs.

Installation:
Date: December 2000, installed one (1) unit equal to SB2500* with 24-hour electrical kit into Pond 2 and a similar unit into Pond 3. March 2002, installed one (1) unit equal to SB2500 with 24-hour electrical kit into Pond 1. December 2002, units in all three ponds were upgraded to SB10000s. September 2003, the SB10000s were replaced with the new SB10000-DM (duel mix) units.

Results:
The first units installed in Pond 2 and 3 totally eliminated aerator run time in Pond 2, and reduced odors. The pH remained around 8.0 and ammonia concentrations still stayed high at 12.2 mg/L (annual average).  After the 3rd machine was added to Pond 1 in March 2002, it brought up the next 8 months average pH to 8.36, and the average ammonia down to 9.83 mg/L for a 20% reduction. Electricity costs dropped from $14K to $4K (i.e., $10,000 savings) as the aerator in Pond 1 was reduced to 8-10 hours per day. This aerator was turning on several times per day instead of being off all day, which reduced the effectiveness in raising the pH. After the duel mix units were installed in September 2003 and aeration timing corrected, great improvements were made
in reaching effluent discharge limits and the SolarBees have met performance expectations since.

Updated: 03/06/2007

SolarBee, Inc. (formerly a division of Pump Systems, Inc.) developed, manufactured, and installed this equipment, and adopted the name “SolarBee” for this technology in Sept, 2001.

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