Industrial gear agency Atlas Copco writes.
Internet hosting a world sporting occasion might deliver much-needed income to native communities, nevertheless it additionally brings some huge challenges – equivalent to the extra pressure on native infrastructure. With tens of hundreds of individuals descending on the area of Schladming in Austria for the Alpine Ski World Cup, the native wastewater therapy plant wanted to be match for function. To adjust to environmental laws and safeguard the pure great thing about the world, the authorities have been eager to minimise any environmental impacts. In addition they needed to future-proof the therapy plant so it may very well be utilized by a number of native municipalities as soon as the snowboarding contest was over. Utilizing an Atlas Copco vitality storage system and electrical pump, they have been capable of develop a wastewater therapy plant that meets their sustainability objectives.
In January 1995, Schladming turned a fastened date within the World Cup calendar, and in 2013, with the elevated recognition of the venue and a peak within the variety of guests, the brand new wastewater therapy plant was constructed. At the moment, the brand new premises wanted ample capability to deal with waste from a inhabitants equal of 31,000 individuals – together with the inhabitants of the 5 largest cities within the area.
After the financial blow attributable to the well being disaster, the Alpine Ski World Cup returned to Schladming in 2023 underneath the ‘The Night Race’ idea and introduced lodging bookings again to pre-pandemic figures – with over 20,000 followers within the 2024 version. In response, the native wastewater therapy plant has undertaken a number of measures to extend its degree of productiveness whereas getting a step nearer to reaching vitality self-sufficiency.
The operators have taken a number of measures in direction of these objectives, together with the usage of the warmth generated within the plant’s processes and the mixing of photo voltaic vitality into its energy provide system. Photovoltaic panels have been put in on the roofs of a number of buildings, with an influence output of 74kWp. As well as, to handle the facility provide of sure operations, the plant has relied on a ZBP energy storage system from Atlas Copco, which may accumulate and ship renewable vitality from the photo voltaic array.
The plant was nonetheless utilizing a vacuum truck to take away sludge from the digestor tower to a separator unit. This was each costly and time-consuming. The operators have been eager to discover a extra environment friendly and cost-efficient means of transferring the sludge throughout cleansing operations. Georg Bachler, Operations Supervisor on the Schladming therapy plant, defined: “We were looking for a reliable pump for the digestor that could cope with variable flow and viscosities. It also had to be robust and versatile to be used as a standby unit during maintenance inspections of sewerage operations.”
They approached Häny Austria GmbH, a specialist in creating pump stations and water generators, and the unique distributor of Atlas Copco’s dewatering options within the area. Häny Austria and Atlas Copco collaborated to suggest a sustainable and cost-effective resolution that might assist the Shladming plant optimize its dewatering processes.
Hannes Stolzlechner, CEO at Häny Austria, explains: “This application demanded a powerful, high energy efficiency pump that could cope with variable sludge viscosities and depths without suffering blockages or loss of vacuum. We therefore recommended the Atlas Copco E PAS electric pump. Electric pumps can be switched on and off quickly and cope better with variable flow rates, whereas diesel pumps work best when run at full capacity over prolonged periods. Importantly for this client and their sustainability goals, electric pumps do not involve the storage of fuel on-site, which could be a potential source of contamination if leakage occurred, and they don’t emit exhaust gases during operation. These qualities mean the E PAS pump has no adverse environmental impacts.”
The E PAS self-priming electric pump performs two capabilities: it makes removing of the waste from the digester tower a lot quicker, simpler, and cheaper, and in addition acts as a standby pump for different pumps on the therapy plant after they expertise an outage for upkeep or restore.
Hannes says: “This is the first time we have specified this particular pump for a wastewater treatment plant, but it worked perfectly and handled all the operational variations with ease. They offer excellent performance, reduced footprint and downtime, and a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).”
Discover out extra about Atlas Copco’s exercise within the space of sustainability and enabling energy-efficient operations here.
