Permanently clean wastewater pipes
Advantages of stationary Comprex® technology
Use of the stationary Comprex® technology of sludge pipes in a large sewage treatment plant in a European capital.
Our Comprex® impulse flushing process works entirely without chemicals, instead using a principle of physics with only air and water: within the flushing section to be cleaned, we inject filtered air into the pipeline in a controlled and impulsive manner. This creates packets of air and water blocks that flow through the pipeline section at high velocity. They generate enormous turbulence with strong shear and drag forces, which enables them to mobilize and reliably discharge the deposits. The result: clean pipes and clean water – efficient, gentle and economical.
Deposit formation in wastewater treatment plants often leads to increased operating expenses. This is also the case with our customer. Within three months, the floating sludge lines leading from the primary clarifiers became so overgrown with greasy deposits that intensive cleaning was necessary.
However, this cleaning, which had previously been carried out manually, meant a high level of personnel and time expenditure on a quarterly basis. With several people, the lines had to be opened and cleaned over 4 days under difficult working conditions in order to restore the hydraulic capacity.
The innovative approach of those responsible: supplement the previous procedures with cleaning with Comprex®.
First test cleaning
After an initial meeting in early 2019, it was decided to conduct a first test week with Comprex®, supported by the use of rock salt as a solid. One month after manual cleaning, on-site test cleanings already showed high effectiveness. The deposits of one month could be largely removed.
The next batch of test cleaning – this time without rock salt addition – after two months of deposit formation was of limited effectiveness.
The challenge
The challenge, however, was to permanently slow down or even prevent deposit formation. This gave rise to the idea of permanently integrating a Comprex® unit into the existing cleaning system on site. To enable shorter cleaning cycles, the operator was provided with the prototype of a stationary Comprex® module (SCM). Different cleaning programs should be tested on different pipelines over several months and compared with each other.
First test cleaning
After an initial meeting in early 2019, it was decided to conduct a first test week with Comprex®, supported by the use of rock salt as a solid. One month after manual cleaning, on-site test cleanings already showed high effectiveness. The deposits of one month could be largely removed.
The next batch of test cleaning – this time without rock salt addition – after two months of deposit formation was of limited effectiveness.
Solutions for a wide range of applications
Proven success with the Comprex® process
Further test cleaning with the stationary Comprex® module
The weekly cleaning of the floating sludge pipes of the primary settling tanks east was able to reduce the grease deposits sustainably until the end of December, while the reference pipes of the primary settling tanks west now have thick grease deposits adhering to them. It was shown that with a weekly cleaning rhythm, no new layers of deposits could build up. The lines east could be kept free for more than 13 weeks. As a result, weekly cleanings with Comprex® are sufficient to replace the feat of manual cleaning at high personnel and time cost.
The SCU series
Our novel stationary Comprex® modules are suitable for regular cleaning of, for example, product lines, pig lines and other pipelines in your production. Regular cleaning reliably removes residues from the pipelines before deposits can form.
Find more information here.