Case Study: Avoid Capacity Limitations

Welcome to the Farm

Few of us give much thought to the water we use, especially once it goes down the drain. Fortunately for the City of Newport and its 10,000+ citizens, Andrew Grant does. His team at the Vance Avery Wastewater Treatment Plant in South Beach, Oregon, is committed to keeping effluent safe, their facility dependable, and operating costs under control. Grant’s facility utilizes a biological treatment method that relies on microorganisms to “eat” dissolved solids in the waste stream. One of his many tasks is keeping these microbes happy and healthy, which requires a delicate balance of nutrients and oxygen. This is supplied by huge wheels that turn continuously, drawing fresh air into an aeration basin and helping microorganisms thrive.

“A treatment plant is much like a farm,” Grant said. “The amount of air we provide determines how quickly the bugs grow and can therefore metabolize the waste. In our case, the basin is 1.44 million gallons, and we’re keeping all that water moving in a circle to keep the solids in suspension. The problem is the peaking factor—where our town’s base population is 10,000, tourism means we often need to accommodate four times that number for several days or even a week. That’s why it’s important to have plenty of capacity and redundancy in our equipment.”

As the city’s population increased and its tourism business expanded, Grant determined it was time to perform a condition and criticality assessment. The results were less than favorable. Grant found that the condition of his plant’s aeration basin was poor. Considering that this is a critical piece of infrastructure, the Vance Avery Wastewater Treatment Plant team began planning to expand their aeration basin.

A Successful Test Case

Grant contacted Jake Simpson, a Motion Account Representative at OR24, looking for a solution. Simpson then contacted Nord District Sales Manager Brent McNeill, and to visit the Vance Avery Wastewater Treatment Plant for an assessment. The facility’s most immediate need was to have its aerators running at full capacity. To solve this, McNeill and Simpson recommended a temporary solution: testing a pair of parallel shaft gear motors and variable frequency drives.

“It was a proof of concept,” Grant said. “We like to try before we buy, and seeing that there’s no bypass for the aeration tank, I needed to make sure they would work as promised. As it turned out, we tested those units for two years and were quite happy with their performance.”

Grant’s team decided it was time to upgrade their entire facility. They were running into severe capacity limitations, and new gear motors would allow them to speed up aerators when needed, increasing microbe growth. Seeing as the funding for this installation would come from taxpayer dollars, Grant did his due diligence and put the project up for competitive bid. Motion was still selected as the provider able to supply the most affordable solution.

Increased Aeration Capabilities

Motion installed six new gear motors for the customer. Our team also replaced all of the facility’s rotating components except for shafts. Since there was no time for a facility shutdown, we used a phased approach, completing half of the installation before moving on to the rest.

“It was a pretty sizable project, but since the gearboxes can be turned on their side, it was easy to fit them into the available space,” Simpson said.

Since this installation, Vance Avery Wastewater Treatment Plant’s aeration capability has increased by more than 50%. Grant says that the facility’s new gear motors are 12% more energy-efficient than its legacy units, saving the facility over $30,000 on its electric bill annually.

“Greater aeration capacity gives us redundancy and the ability to keep up with peak demand,” Grant said. “It also reduces our maintenance costs, as we no longer have to drive into town for replacement belts and take the units down for service. When water leaves here, it gets discharged offshore, going into our oceans, crabbing grounds and beaches. My team takes that responsibility very seriously, so I’m quite pleased with the outcome. It’s been a great project, and I’m glad that Motion was able to provide us with such a robust solution.”

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