Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - AMSA in the News
USFilter's Odor Abatement Systems Help Keep
N.C. Mountain Air And Water Clean
2/15/2005
Warrendale, PA -- As part of a long-term plant expansion,
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities is installing six carbon adsorbers from USFilter
RJ Environmental Products at the McDowell Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP)
in Huntersville, N.C. Comprised of Midas® OCM (odor control media) from USFilter
Westates Carbon, each odor abatement system will help eliminate hydrogen sulfide
(H2S) and other organic odors in headworks, influent pump stations and day
tanks.
Four systems at the headworks and influent pump station areas will each handle
an air flow rate of 10,125 cubic feet per minute (cfm). The day tanks area will
have two 11,775-cfm systems. In total, USFilter's odor abatement systems will
treat a combined air flow rate of 64,050 cfm. The McDowell Creek installation is
scheduled to come online in Fall 2006.
The 23-year-old McDowell Creek plant currently treats 6 million gallons per day
(mgd). Population growth and the resulting increased wastewater flows hastened
the facility's decision to double its capacity over the next two years. A
community Stakeholders Group helped the utility decide what would be the best
wastewater management approach for the service area. The final design includes
state-of-the-art treatment technologies to meet very stringent permit
requirements. Providing odor control facilities as part of the plant expansion
will help meet the expectations of the local community and Stakeholders Group.
Although seemingly complex, the odor abatement systems work very simply. Foul
air flows through densely packed beds of Midas(R) OCM to adsorb H2S. The media's
H2S adsorption capacity is three to six times that of other carbons. As the OCM
is not impregnated, it is much safer to use and has a longer bed life than
impregnated media. For Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities, this means fewer service
interruptions and lower operations and maintenance costs.
In the past five years, the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies has
annually recognized the McDowell Creek WWTP with either a Gold or Silver award
for consistently complying with treatment requirements.