Getting Big Results in Sewer Wastewater Treatment from Small-Scaled SAF Frost Generators

In the sewage industry, wastewater treatment is a big job. It’s not something often discussed in everyday conversations within our local communities. But, with more attention being focused on sustainability and the future of our environment, things are changing. Today, there is more interest in – and more talk about – water treatment processes, overall.

In the sewage industry, especially, there is growing concern about what’s being done to clean up the water. Currently, popular processes for removing suspended solids from wastewater include SAF™ (Suspended Air® Flotation) and DAF (dissolved air flotation); SAF being the newer innovation of the two types of processes. The SAF process uses an externally generated bubble suspension containing very high air content, key to a flotation process capable of 10 times the hydraulic loading and 10 times the solids loading rate of DAF. So, it’s easy to see why, within the past few decades, SAF has replaced DAF as the method of choice for removal of suspended solids from wastewater.

Here’s how it works: The SAF process encapsulates each air bubble with a chemically active film that strongly attaches to flocculated solids in the wastewater, achieving high loading rates and more efficient flotation. Comparatively, the DAF process uses high pressure, a very high recirculation rate and is dependent on physical entrapment and weak surface bonds to achieve its results.

At the heart of the SAF process is the SAF Froth Generator responsible for the superior effectiveness and efficiency of the system. Standard features of the SAF Froth Generator are:

• A sealed generator module
• Frothing agent metering pump
• Instrumentation, sensors and controls, and
• Recycle pump.

The SAF process makes evaluating treatability a much simpler task. By employing the laboratory scaled generator an investigator can easily assess chemical conditioning recipe and flotation.  The process utilizing the SAF bench generator is far simpler than testing that incorporates a bench style DAF apparatus.  In addition, results are immediately applicable and reliably scale to full production operations. It’s important to also remember what we previously said: The SAF Froth Generator operates a flotation process at 10 times the hydraulic loading and 10 times the solids loading rate of DAF.

SAF jar testing can be reliably scaled and performed on site/in the field, due to the smaller scale of the SAF process. Results are immediately applicable to the entire water treatment operations – and that’s big news for the wastewater treatment industry.

The Use of Aphrons: How and Why They Work So Well

The use of Aphrons—and Aphron drilling fluids—is now commonplace and highly regarded for its advantages. But many people might not be aware of the interesting history behind Aphron use, as well as the present-day advancements that have been made.

Dr. Felix Sebba, originally invented Aphrons in South Africa, later moved to the US to further his research. Dr. Sebba generated Aphrons using a spinning disk and a relatively high concentration of surfactant. Originally used to transfer oxygen to bacterial cultures, the process proved difficult to scale.

At Heron Innovators, our Suspended Air® process utilizes 100 – 1000 times less surfactant to generate the Aphrons. The Suspended Air® process significantly reduces the cost of operation compared to other techniques incorporated to generate Aphrons.  In addition, the ability to harvest only the smallest of bubbles to the process provides a very effective and efficient oxygen transfer process when compared to current techniques employed in transferring oxygen.

Following the lead of the groundbreaking Dr. Sebba, we’ve further advanced his unique process.

Why a Remarkably Rapid Rise Rate Makes all the Difference in Solids Separation

When it comes to the use of dissolved air flotation, a rapid rise rate of flocculated solids makes all the difference. This is true for a number of industries relying on the technology, and the difference Suspended Air® Flotation makes is significant.

With this technology, each bubble is covered with a chemically active film that strongly attaches itself to the flocculated solids and creates a remarkably high rise rate and very efficient flotation.  A routine aspect of all of our applications, this not only results in a high loading rate, but also a smaller footprint.

The process works extremely well in food processing, where suspended solids need to be separated and removed. Fruit and vegetable canneries, meat processors, snack food manufacturers, and dairy processors rely on this process in their production.

As an example, tomato processors often face challenges associated with solids collected in a tank: they accumulate over time and become difficult to manage. Properly removing the solids means creating more space in the holding tank, as well as making for more efficient and cleaner irrigation. Another industry/area to benefit from the technology is breweries, which rely on separation of solids byproducts from the treated liquids. As well, fruit canneries benefit from Suspended Air® Flotation for removal of solids from the fruit wash water and flume water, as well as from process equipment cleaning.

The fact is, compared to Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF), which depends on physical entrapment and a weak surface bond to float the solids, SAF™ causes flocculated solids to rise over ten times as fast. Anyone relying on solids separation for their business—whether fruits and vegetables, beer, or something else altogether—knows that this order-of-magnitude increase in rise rate can make all the difference.

Heron Innovators Take on Tomatoes

Recently, Pacific Coast Producers came to Heron Innovators to solve their tomato issues. The cannery procures, and then processes tomatoes into an assortment of products at their Woodland, CA plant. Tomatoes give off a strong, ‘tomato-y’ smell during the process, and the application site for the plant’s process wastewater has been a source for concern in the local community. As more people move into the area, the cannery has had to contend with odor problems and complaints from local residents.

That’s where the Suspended Air Flotation (SAF™) wastewater treatment system by Heron Innovators came in. During the summer of 2012, Heron Innovators placed a SAF™ pilot trailer at the plant. That’s a 40 ft. long gooseneck trailer containing all the technology for an on-site SAF™ system to do a trial run.

The trial period at Pacific Coast Producers was two months. And even though less than one quarter of the plant’s process wastewater was treated by the SAF™ system, the odor improvements were obvious immediately, and fewer complaints came into the cannery.

Based on the success of the results from the pilot run, Pacific Coast Producers purchased a complete Heron Innovators Suspended Air® Flotation wastewater treatment system to remove suspended solids and BOD from their wastewater – with startup beginning June 27.

The system treats all of the plant’s process wastewater, up to 2,000 gpm, and includes a Heron Innovators Model CF1000 ClearFloater™ flotation tank, one of the largest in Heron’s line.  The stainless steel unit has a flotation area of 144 square feet, and is mounted on a 12-ft. high frame.  Up to 26 gpm of Suspended Air® Emulsion is provided by a Model F100 SAF™ Generator to provide the air for flotation.  Operators need only make a daily inspection to check on the automatic system.

Now everyone – local community members, as well as Pacific Coast Producers – is happy. We at Heron Innovators are, too.

Announcing a New Partnership in Excellence

What many of Heron Innovators’ customers may already know is that we are leaders in solid liquid separation, and have been for over a decade.  What they may not know is that our offerings in the industrial wastewater and municipal water sectors, with our innovative SAF™ technology, is truly changing the way these offerings serve clients’ needs.   What they also might not know is that what we offer is green technology—using less fossil fuel to perform the essential solid liquid separation that companies require.

There are significant advantages to our SAF™ technology when compared to competing flotation styles of physical/chemical separation, including:

• The lowest connected HP.
• 30-80% reduction in footprint compared with DAF. This translates to lower capital costs and less obtrusive when installed.
• Almost always generates more dewatered solids, which leads to less skimmings’.

• Better removal efficiencies.

• We retrofit any brand DAF and will achieve at least 2-3X design capacity, almost always with increased removal efficiency , and lower connected HP.

As a result of this great technology, we are excited to be represented by MISCOwater, the largest and most prestigious representatives of solutions for municipal water, wastewater, and energy markets in the country.  As stated by MISCOwater, they “represent the leaders in [the] industry”, and we’re proud to be one of them. Until recently Heron has sold primarily into the industrial marketplace, the MISCOwater partnership provides awareness of Heron’s SAF™ technology to key stakeholders in the municipal market.  MISCOwater’s line card of premier municipal products now includes Heron’s SAF™, a truly unique offering for Physical/Chemical Solids Separation.

We’re grateful to the many clients who have recognized our quality and leadership from the beginning.