Automation of GBMSD's Gravity Belt Thickeners

Abstract

The Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District (GBMSD) is always looking for opportunities to automate the treatment processes it operates and maintains. GBMSD recently went through an automation upgrade project for the waste activated sludge (WAS) thickening process. The automation of the thickening process has provided more remote monitoring and improved operator attention to the thickening process while reducing the amount of physical time required by the operators to be in the thickening building. This paper will discuss the automation and controls that were a part of this upgrade, what has worked well and what hasn't been as successful as anticipated. It will also discuss the pitfalls that have come up with the upgrade.