Detailed Design for a water treatment section by ultrafiltration for the improvement of the potabilization system of Variano (AL)
| Assignment name: Detailed Design for a water treatment section by ultrafiltration for the improvement of the potabilization system of Variano (AL) | |
| Approx. value of the contract (in current US$): US$ 2.029.131,00 Approx. value of the contract (in current US$): US$ 15.500,00 | |
| Country: Italy. Location within country: Vignole Borbera, Province of Alessandria, Piemonte Region. | |
| Name of Client: Gestione Acqua S.p.A. | |
| Start date (month/year): March 2018 Completion date (month/year): May 2018 | |
| Name of associated Consultants, if any: None | |
Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment:
The activities carried out are:
- Preparation of the project proposal;
- Use of the best available technologies (BAT) in the field of water treatment;
- Functionality of the structures towards their intended use. The spaces have been designed to accommodate the systems and project machines, to allow correct installation, ordinary and extraordinary maintenance of machines and structures;
- Plant design to respond to customer treatment requests, guaranteeing high standards potabilization yields and refining the quality of the final product from a microbiological and turbidity;
- Introduction of technical solutions aimed at minimizing the system’s energy consumption and reducing the dosage reagents;
- Choice of machines characterized by high performance, reduced energy consumption and low noise;
- Creation of works perfectly inserted in the surrounding area, in order to minimize the visual impact.
Description of Project:
Koch Membrane Systems Inc has entrusted ETC Engineering with carrying out the final project drawings for the revamping of the Variano filtration plant. The intervention was aimed at the reconstruction of the drinking water plant, following a first phase of urgent interventions on the existing one. The development of the works was divided into four phases, including the modification of the supply and distribution system, the supply of the membranes and the construction, in two separate lots of the civil and plant engineering works.
The plant operated with a capacity of about 160 l/sec (= about 580 m3/h), fed with surface water from three sources and it was sized for a capacity of 720 m3/h (200 l/s).
Given the age of the plant and the conception of the previous treatment chain, a total revamping was necessary. Following the analysis on the characteristics of the incoming water, whose average temperature was 11 °C with a minimum of 5 °C and the average turbidity was <20 NTU, the new treatment phases were divided as follows:
- Mechanical protection by screening,
- Dosage of coagulant with fast mixing,
- Flocculation,
- Filtration by MBR,
- Accumulation in tank, disinfection with chlorine dioxide and subsequent distribution.
The purpose of the intervention and the design choices are aimed at ensuring a minimization of downtime and an efficiency of the plant’s operation. In addition, the changes to the systems, compared to the document provided during the tender phase, allowed a better usability of the internal spaces and a reduction in the excavation volumes for the tanks. Finally, the development of the installation plan provided for the continuous operation of the existing filtration.
The inclusion in the existing context required the design of a single building containing the necessary equipment for the drinking water plant. Particular attention was paid to defining the maintenance spaces, while at the same time having to guarantee the necessary height for the possible extraction of machines and equipment, without however compromising the landscape quality of the site. Furthermore, to further strengthen the environmental value of the area and the project, the external finishes of the building have been carefully studied: the choice of soft colors for the walls and a roof with tiles for the roof harmonises perfectly with the surrounding area, characterized by a purely agricultural fabric.
