Headworks Engineering Academy

Content covered during the Headworks Academy:

• Screening technologies: This topic traces the development of screening equipment, discusses the factors that drove change, and analyzes the suitability of various screening technologies and applications that are most appropriate for each style.
  
  
• Selection and specification: There are many factors that should be considered before a screen type is selected for a specific application. Those factors, listed below, will be discussed and explored.
  • Collection systems
  • Pre-screening
  • Overall lift from channel invert
  • Availability of wash water
  • New or existing structure
  • Downstream treatment processes
  • Access for installation
  • Access for maintenance
  • Indoor/Outdoor installation
  • Corrosive atmospheres
  • Customer perception
    
    
• Hydraulics and site-specific data: It is important to thoroughly understand the hydraulic profile of a project site, and proper data is all-too-often hard to obtain.  Site-specific testing is a relatively new but critical area of the industry. With so many variables affecting a plant’s influent and process, it is more important than ever to understand the unique characteristics of a site to reduce capital expenditures, prolong equipment life, reduce maintenance and improve screenings capture. This discussion covers what is necessary to know, reviews multiple scenarios, and provides an in-depth review and analysis of on-site testing equipment.
  
  
• Screening applications: This topic provides an in-depth analysis of coarse screening, fine screening and two-stage screening. The group will explore the benefits of fine screening to all treatment processes (not just IFAS and MBR), the challenges of sizing ultra-fine screens, and the factors that need to be considered in coarse or fine screening, such as maximum differential, wash water availability, and more.
  
  
• Other applications: Most municipal applications are in headworks and pump stations but there are other reasons to install a screen, including septage receiving stations, algae removal, snail removal and water intake screens, among others. We will review these various screen applications and identify the most appropriate styles of screens and grids used in these applications for effective screening.
  
  
• Screenings handling: This presentation will discuss the effect of the collection system, screen opening size, total solids load, optional equipment, launder sluice systems, conveyors and customer expectations.
  
  
• Controls: Optimized equipment controls improve capture, increases the life of equipment and reduces energy consumption. We will review the hardware and sequence of operation that most manufacturers supply, including ultrasonic level transducers, pressure switches and floats.