Application of an Innovative Venturi Type Aeration Array as Part of the Restoration and Upgrading of an Obsolete Wastewater Treatment Plant

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are usually planned for operational duration of several decades, nonetheless, at the end of that period and in many cases earlier, they need to be replaced. In the current project a typical extended aeration activated sludge facility have demonstrated high energy and labor consumption, as well as insufficient effluent quality. Since the option of replacing the WWTP was estimated in about 1.5 million USD, it was decided to try and rehabilitate it. The technical solutions applied included mainly a new aeration array with a reactive management system. Following this rehabilitation, the effluent quality became within the desired standards and with the new management system the energy consumption was reduced by about a half. Considering that the cost of implementing the new technical solutions was about tenth of the alternative, it is clear that for similar scenarios restoration of a WWTP is superior to building a replacement.