Purchase Order: Gwinnett County, Georgia

EnviroMix announced today that its compressed gas mixing technology will be used as part of a wastewater sludge storage project for the F. Wayne Hill Water Resources Center (WRC), Gwinnett County, Georgia. This 60-million gallon per day (MGD) advanced wastewater treatment facility discharges into Lake Lanier, an important leisure amenity for the area and an important drinking water reservoir for metro Atlanta. As such, the WRC effluent limits are more strict than for any other permitted discharge in the State of Georgia, to include a total phosphorus concentration of 0.08 mg/L.

The F. Wayne Hill WRC receives sludge from another Gwinnett County treatment facility, pumped via force main into the facility influent. This new solids loading requires additional storage capacity prior to thickening, digestion and dewatering. An existing circular chemical thickener will be modified by building an interior sloped-floor tank for primary sludge storage, with the outer ring to hold waste activated sludge. These tank geometries present challenges for technologies other than BioMx, the EnviroMix compressed gas mixing system. Rings of floor-mounted nozzles will intermittently release bursts of compressed air to mix the tanks. No aerobic treatment of the sludge is desired prior to thickening and anaerobic digestion. Because each volume fired is so large, but has relatively low surface area, BioMx transfers an insignificant amount of oxygen into the sludge and provides well-mixed, anoxic/anaerobic conditions. Further, energy consumption using BioMx is estimated at only 43% as compared to mechanical mixers, using just one BioMx compressor in lieu of five mechanical mixers.

Robert Kazmier of Kazmier & Associates, Inc., EnviroMix sales representative, states, “The unique geometries of these tanks coupled with the County’s desire to reduce maintenance made BioMx to be the common-sense mixing solution. The energy reduction already proven by BioMx systems in the facility’s anaerobic biological treatment reactors provided awareness of this mixing technology during technology selection.”

The BioMx system is expected to be operational by December 2011. EnviroMix is pleased to provide Gwinnett County engineered, energy-efficient mixing solutions as part of their advanced wastewater treatment processes at the F. Wayne Hill WRC.