Water and Sewage Treatment: Expertise Unlimited

Picking Up

2012-01-28T06:15:00.002Z

More enquiries this week, including yet another bit of expert witness work, and an invitation to give our Water and Effluent Treatment course in the Middle East again. Things are picking up, and teaching starts again next week too...

Practical Stats

2012-01-25T07:54:00.003Z

Here's an interesting blog specialising in the application of stats to water analyses, (amongst other things) discussing the many ways in which it is possible to misinterpret them

Business as usual

2012-01-24T11:46:00.005Z

We've had a few small enquiries recently, which have been enough to keep us ticking over. A little problem with the package plant under the playground (soon to be handed over to the management company, and of course, still going well), an expert witness job for an arm of government, and one for a well-known management consultancy.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-06T11:26:00.004Z

Happy New Year from all here. I'm glad to have the teaching job, with the recent downturn in enquiries, and not spending the break as I usually do on emergency callouts to frozen water treatment plants due to the mild weather conditions.

Who Knows?

2011-10-28T05:05:00.002+01:00

As part of making Nottingham's Chemical and Environmental Engineering degrees more industrially relevant, I have had to consider what practical engineers know, and how they know it.

A degree in engineering can only put you at the point where you are ready to learn the things you need to know to be a practising professional. Graduate engineers are unlikely to be able to design a plant which works. There is a great deal of knowledge of the essential fine details of design which is not taught in Universities. I learned it largely from my colleagues in contracting companies, equipment suppliers and plant operators. I refined it by observing the effectiveness of different approaches and troubleshooting the consequences of bad design choices over a couple of decades.

Now I can usually diagnose problems and design solutions which work without much conscious effort in very short order. I don't have to do pages of advanced mathematics, or institute a five-year research programme. I may not have seen it all before, but I've seen a fair bit. I don't consciously use the stuff I learned in University very much, but it underlies all I do - it isn't just a matter of experience.

For example, by the time I am called in to look at problems on small sewage treatment plants, it is usually the case that people with lots of experience but no degree have been there before me. Their experience is often of driving tankers to desludge such systems, then doing the simple maintenance jobs which keep them running, and after following the manufacturer's troubleshooting guide they start trying to invent their own fixes.

They don't know what they don't know, which makes them overconfident in their abilities. The people they work for usually have some sort of go-faster accessory for plants which misbehave, which gets offered every time to people with package plant problems. To a man who only has a hammer, everything looks like a nail. As our former tanker driver (or in some cases soldier) has no scientific or mathematical training, it never occurs to anyone to test the performance of the plant before and after making a change to see if it has made things better or worse, and as anyone looking into magnetic water softening will find out, it's very easy to kid yourself. It is however not so easy to kid the Environment Agency, which is where I come in.

So where is the knowledge of how to design and troubleshoot water and effluent treatment plants held? It isn't generally speaking in Universities, and neither is it held by tanker drivers, however long they have been pumping sludge or playing at engineers. Most of it is held in contracting and operating companies, and most of that in the heads of a few key individuals.

Most consultancies have rooms full of bright young graduates, who never get to design anything which gets built. Contractors have to politely and quietly redesign the outline designs originating with these beginners which they are given in tender documents so that they will actually work. They will not tell the consultants what they got wrong, so they never learn how it is really done. Similarly, the contractor will keep to themselves critical details of how to commission a system.

Some of this stuff may get written in design manuals of varying degrees of formality within the contracting organisation, and smart client organisations may also learn from experience, and may produce their own design manuals intended to crystallise their operational experience and constrain the design choices of the contractor to maximise chances of success. Not all clients do this, but an expert client's knowledge of the operational consequences of design choices is an essential part of the expert's knowledge.

So the things you need to know to go from being a green graduate to being a competent engineer are not to be found in a book. You ideally need guided hands-on experience and feedback about the results of your choices. Can this process start within a degree programme in such a way as to accelerate the post-graduate progress from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence?

Package Plants : Again

2011-10-22T10:10:00.009+01:00

In addition to the Acorn Environmental/Bord Na Mona plant we have just finished uprating, we looked at an overloaded Titan/Entec/Kingspan plant last weekend, as shown above.

The evident maldistribution of effluent to the top media bale in the pic is as a result of the cack-handed attempt by another company to reset the airlift flow rates. This and other inexpert interventions cost the client £750 ex VAT for two hours of work, and resulted in his effluent going from a just failing level at 30:30:20 (BOD:SS:NH4) to a threat of prosecution 300:300:40 standard.

As is so often the case, the monkey passing himself off as an engineer failed to get to the bottom of the problem, which is a combination of biological overloading, a problem with one of the airlifts, intermittent and very high pumped flows, and high levels of untreatable solids being put to drain on the site. Other than the biological overloading, these were all fixable on a one-day visit.

British Water's guidance for users of package plants should be given to all new and existing owners - my advice on what do do if your package plant misbehaves is also worth reading. Better yet, read them both before you buy a plant, and avoid problems in future.

Twin Track

2011-09-24T12:25:00.003+01:00

I've just accepted an Associate Professorship in Environmental Engineering at Nottingham University. I'll be starting there soon, but I intend to continue to provide consultancy services via Expertise Limited just as before.

I'm working this weekend, producing a boiler water treatment plant specification, and investigating the sufficiency of design capacity of a proposed package plant.

This second issue brings up the lack of standardisation of the supposed British Standard BS EN 12566-3. It doesn't mean what people think it means. It only means that the unit removed a certain percentage of pollutants for a given flow of domestic sewage under test conditions. Capability in dealing with variations in flow and load, its reaction to extended periods off-line, and many other things it would be nice to know about cannot be inferred by the granting of such a certificate.

This British version of what is intended to be a harmonised European standard is inferior to its German and even French versions. As ever, buyer beware!

EA negotiations

2011-09-14T09:21:00.001+01:00

Another good ammonia lab result, client is about to start negotiations with the EA to start discharging to river from the fixed package plant.

Then we can get on to phase five of the seven phases of a project, which are reputedly:

1. Wild enthusiasm
2. Disillusionment
3. Confusion
4. Panic
5. Search for the guilty
6. Punishment of the innocent
7. Promotion of non-participants

I usually get called in around stage 4...

Results

2011-09-08T09:00:00.001+01:00

Laboratory results in from the upgraded package plant: SS 10mg/l BOD 2mg/l NH3 2 mg/l vs. consented values of 30:20:10. Quality!

Is our water evil?

2011-09-08T08:57:00.002+01:00

...or is bottled water a mug's game? asks lovemoney.com

Business more or less as usual

2011-09-06T08:52:00.002+01:00

I'm off down to look at the upgraded package plant today - other than that things are quiet at the moment.

The plant's performance seems to have stabilised (despite the amateur attentions of tanker drivers and others)and hopefully it will be in a condition to start discharge to environment soon. If this is the case, there will be one last confined space entry to check the new discharge pumps over, and set the maximum flow to the consented value.

I found the relevant person and information for UU, and put something in place, but now I am waiting on the inertia inherent in the systems of large companies.

I'm preparing for an interview for an academic job, which I will (if I am successful) run in tandem with my work for Expertise Limited.

QR Code

2011-08-19T14:20:00.002+01:00

Here's our contact details as a QR Code

Ask an Expert

2011-08-17T16:10:00.002+01:00

Blinded by science? Ask an expert.

Tweaking, Teaching, Training, and Tankering

2011-08-15T10:34:00.008+01:00

The tweak applied to the package plant seems to have worked, performance is now at or close to compliance with BOD and SS consents. The tanker company are however still fighting a rearguard action, so information on how much treated effluent they are removing and when is not forthcoming.

I received a call from United Utilities about problems they are having with a plant built for them by the now-defunct Invent Water treatment. Their former staff are scattered to the winds, and those I know the locations of cannot help them. I may end up helping them myself- as Invent went bust owing us money, It would be a kind of justice.

The dairy effluent training course went well, though if I were to give it again it would be on the site with their effluent treatment plant so that we could get a bit more hands-on, and have a bit less in the classroom.

I got my PGCHE certificate yesterday, and have started discussions with local Universities about next year's teaching commitments.

Package Plant Problems II - TheTanker Driver

2011-07-29T10:20:00.006+01:00

The package plant under the playground has developed a new problem, floating sludge on the final tank. I went down last night to tweak the plant to address the problem to find that it has snapped another drive-belt due to excessive back-pressure, in turn due to the tanker company not removing the treated effluent as requested. This is our third drive belt in nine weeks, with consistent cause.

It seems almost to be a defining characteristic of sewage tanker drivers that they think that they know better than professional engineers. This is merely the latest of countless occasions where I have found that unless you actually stand over a tanker driver and watch him, he will do whatever is easiest, or whatever he thinks is best.

Limbo

2011-07-12T10:24:00.005+01:00

There are so many offers out there at the moment that I'm a bit in limbo, waiting to see what happens before I make a move.

I'm ticking over with the forthcoming training course, commissioning of the refurbished package plant, and our Indian client, but I'm a little impatient for a few things to resolve themselves.

On the teaching side, I'm now a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy-FWIW.

Legal Issues and Training

2011-07-01T10:24:00.008+01:00

I'm putting the finishing touches to a bespoke training course on water minimisation and effluent treatment for a well-known dairy today.

The package plant under the playground story rumbles on, and now looks to be going legal, with a mission to assign blame on the basis of the various problems with the job. We seem to be the only people involved who are not being sued at the moment.

The Indian client who had to be told that things were not as he would like them to be saw that the data did support my conclusions, though it was a little touch and go...

Remote Troubleshooting

2011-06-06T05:43:00.004+01:00

There was a difficulty last week with ongoing attempts to remotely troubleshoot problems with an effluent treatment plant in India. I always like to troubleshoot things in person if at all possible, and the difficulties we are having remind me of why.

The essence of this particular problem is that the client organisation believes that certain interventions have clearly improved matters, when the little data they have collected suggests otherwise.

It's always tricky to tell a paying client that they are mistaken, especially when you are telling them that the truth is less favourable than their version of events. It is however in my opinion a professional duty not to allow them to live in a fool's paradise.

It is always better when troubleshooting to take nothing for granted, to establish the validity of every important parameter personally. Experience suggests that somewhere in the pre-existing set of assumptions is the duff one which has prevented resolution of the problem prior to your arrival.

Teasing out the bad premise is as often as not the troubleshooter's most difficult task. This is often not difficult technically, but it can be politically troublesome. No-one noticed before you arrived something which can seem obvious with hindsight, and as no-one wants to look foolish, getting the data you need can be very tricky.

Spot the Treatment Plant

2011-05-28T20:25:00.007+01:00

Under the partially open hatch in this children's playground is the misbehaving package plant we upgraded in situ.

Busy Again

2011-05-18T20:00:00.002+01:00

A real spike on enquiries early in the week, with two overseas water treatment design jobs (one of which is huge) and a UK training course. With commissioning of the upgraded package sewage treatment plant under the playground next week, it's a busy month.

Teaching

2011-05-15T12:16:00.005+01:00

Got my PGCHE last week, so now I'm a fully accredited University Teacher. I've been doing a fair bit of teaching this week, as well as producing the AutoCad sketches for that Iraqi job I did last weekend.

Iraq: Hydraulic Design

2011-05-07T14:51:00.008+01:00

Picked up a bit of emergency hydraulic design for an Iraqi contractor this weekend. It's interesting looking at routing pipelines through places I'd only looked at on the news before, but Google Earth is still so much safer (and quicker) than a site visit.

Nice to dig out all of my standard hydraulic calculation sheets, and glad now that I had them all verified by an independent third party, so that when I'm under time pressure like this, I'm just plugging the numbers in without having to worry about whether the calculations are error-free for the basics. There's a surge/ water hammer analysis to do on this job as well though, so there's new stuff to accommodate too.

Other than that, lots of teaching (get my PGCHE result next Tuesday), including supervising one strand of a week-long field exercise for Nottingham University's Environmental Engineers near out Wirksworth base.

The final M+E commissioning session of the package plant under a playground (delayed by waiting for 3-phase power to be brought to site) is due later in the month-then we will see if our aeration system upgrade will bring the plant into consent, as it did for a similar plant a couple of years back. There's a plan B if it doesn't quite make the grade....

Package Plant Problems

2011-03-01T08:00:00.007Z

We were on site last week with our confined space trained staff to upgrade an undersized package plant (installed under a kid's playground!) in a new housing development.

As with much of the work we do, everyone cheaper than us had been given a go at fixing it first, resulting in much wasted money.

In this case, a local tanker company had established a division specialising in taking money from people for their inexpert meddling. The company employ no qualified engineers, and consequently have no professional indemnity insurance. Before hiring someone unqualified and uninsured, you might want to ask yourself why insurance companies will not cover them for the work you are thinking of asking them to do.

As you can see from the condition of our staff's overalls, they left a mess behind them.

We undid the damage they had caused, and got the plant ready for commissioning in our programmed three days.

Enquiries

2011-02-17T16:57:00.006Z

We are getting lots of new enquiries, both for training and for engineering. Due to complete upgrade to the malfunctioning package plant next week, which required myself and a couple of our technicians to obtain confined space entry "tickets" a couple of weeks back.

I also became an associate member of the Higher Education Academy this week, which I hope to upgrade to full membership when I submit my portfolio next month to get my PGCHE.

I'm doing a fair bit of teaching now, makes a pleasant change from wading through dirty water in the middle of the night, as we ended up doing until 5AM last Sunday on an emergency call-out.

Kuwait job has gone a bit quiet again, though the Indian industrial effluent treatment job has come back on-line.

A Busy Time

2011-01-19T05:25:00.004Z

I'm uprating an undersized package plant this week, then teaching, then back here, then off to Kuwait hopefully. I've picked up another couple of little jobs to do on the side as well. Not worked this hard in years!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-06T15:35:00.002Z

Happy New Year to all. We've had a busy holiday season with quite a number of emergency callouts to frozen and thawing plants.

Kuwait course has been postponed, but looks to be going ahead, and Uni. teaching starts again next week

Package plant upgrade about to commence, and we got a new package plant problem enquiry yesterday.

It's busier than it has been for a long time...

Big Freeze

2010-12-29T18:53:00.003Z

The big freeze damaged pipework at both Manchester sites, which I patched up yesterday, and hope to be able to restart tomorrow.

The Kuwait job as so often the case with Middle-Eastern work is in last-minute negotiations, may yet not happen...

I've got a few University related tasks to do, glad to be working again, more than a week of holiday and I'm itching to do something.

Compliments of the season from all of us here...

Emergency Callout

2010-12-10T15:53:00.003Z

Had a call-out to a frozen plant in Manchester this week, and also picked up some training in Kuwait in the new year. Things are ticking over nicely.

Rebooting

2010-11-25T16:16:00.003Z

An old job rebooted yesterday, upgrading an undersized package plant in situ to avoid having to dig it up from the centre of a housing development. It's essentially identical to something I did a few years back for Schlumberger.

My teaching load is almost up to the maximum allowed at Nottingham Trent, and I'm reprising last year's Mogden Formula tutorial at Loughborough Uni. next week, so that side of things pretty busy too.

Training etc.

2010-11-02T17:21:00.005Z

I got good customer feedback on the Libyan oil industry environmental monitoring course - it didn't hurt to take them for a quality kebab at my favourite Iranian place on the way back from the field trip to the groundwater treatment plant in Manchester..

Other than a call-out to the usual problems at the Manchester site, engineering is a bit quiet again.

The money for the US job never materialised, despite our having a signed contract. Every time I call them, the money is supposedly on its way, but it never arrives. I can't be bothered to chase them any more. Who knows what that was about. Time-wasters.

Talking of time-wasters, the people with the garlic butter problem lost all interest in further investigations unless I was wiling to enter into a continuing extended dialogue with them free of charge, so I guess they have gone back to trying to fix things themselves.

I have plenty of teaching to keep me busy though, with upcoming engagements at both Loughborough and Nottingham Universities in addition to my steady gig at NTU.

Virtuoso Water Engineering

2010-10-14T10:39:00.002+01:00

Have a look at this

- Amazing!

Garlic Bread and Safe Flying

2010-09-05T08:31:00.008+01:00

An interesting job last week tracking down the source of heavy fat contamination of effluent in a business park containing a garlic bread factory, and figuring out what to do about it. As is so often the case, by the time I visited, several people and their contractors had had a go at solving some of the knock-on effects, but no-one had got to the bottom of the problem, or monitored whether their "fixes" had actually worked.

As it turned out, the client was amenable to reasonable argument, but I have to admit my heart sank when he told me before going to site that "we know what the problem is, we just want to discuss what to do about it". If you really know what the problem is, knowing what to do about it is usually quite obvious, and dealing with a fixed idea in the client's mind can often lead to upsets.

So I have a fair idea what the problem probably is (something different from what the client thought, and in part to do with the amateur fixes already tried). Now I get a bit of sampling and lab analysis done to check I am correct before spending any more of the client's money.

I am preparing a course on environmental monitoring in the oil and gas industry, and came across a document allowing rational safety evaluation of airlines produced by an industry body, which you can see here. Call me chicken, but I don't like to fly with the crashier outfits, and this will allow me to point to an industry standard to justify my insistence of only flying with the safer companies.

Teaching and Training, Engineering and Business Considerations

2010-08-25T08:08:00.005+01:00

I'm writing a leachate pumping plant specification, putting a new layer on the oil spill response tool, and writing any number of courses, including a fairly hands-on week on environmental monitoring for the oil industry.

Things are going well with the Indians, we are progressing through an initial phase of optimising what is there already with encouraging results. It may however now be that we are approaching the limits not just of what those particular bits of kit will do, but what that particular technology will do. It might be time to get a little more radical.

The US job is in a peculiar state of limbo, with a signed contract and promises of money on its way into our account which never seems to materialise. I'm glad I asked for upfront payment!

Keeping Busy

2010-08-19T16:36:00.005+01:00

I've picked up quite a bit of teaching for the forthcoming term at Loughborough and both Nottingham unis, as well being likely to land a training course for oil industry clients.

Back on the practical side, I've got some leachate pumping applications to look at, as well as some more oil spill response stuff, and work is continuing on the Indian job.

I'm busy enough.

Jam Jar Test

2010-08-16T13:56:00.003+01:00

I came across a new water scam today, called the Jam Jar test-people selling home RO water systems scare customers into thinking that tap water is filled with impurities by using a coarse form of electrolysis to produce brown sludge in ordinary tap water. RO water's far lower conductivity means that it does not, as illustrated. Doesn't mean a thing, don't be taken in!

Back...

2010-07-27T14:35:00.003+01:00

Back from a week's holiday, and things are gearing up slowly.

Awaiting developments on three overseas jobs.

Picked up a bit of data analysis predicting the remaining working lifetime of a groundwater treatment plant.

Looking good so far on the modifications made to the pharma effluent treatment plant.

Should firm up on most of my teaching commitments by the end of this month, allowing me writing time for materials.

Much of next week will be spent updating my First Aid Certification, so no problem with a slow restart....

Clarifier Upgrade

2010-07-12T19:45:00.015+01:00

Some pics of the clarifier unit upgrade we carried out over the weekend for our pharma client, increasing the capacity of their existing clarifier five-fold to cope with increased production

Plate Pack

Plate Pack with new weir plates and launder in place, obscuring the new diffuser arrangement

Working, smooth enough to function as a reflective pool...

Another busy week

2010-07-02T13:31:00.004+01:00

Coming to the end of another busy week, oil-spill job finished, Indian and US jobs in. Kenya/ Uganda jobs will be in mañana...

Indian job started (new holders of the blower undersizing record, having a 2HP blower which should be 70 HP!)

Pharma. client presentation went well Tuesday, will be upgrading their plant again shortly.

Firming up on next term's teaching, might get a module to myself at Loughborough, at least a half-share at NTU, and summer school work for Nottingham.

Last month's invoice total was the highest for a couple of years....Things definitely look to be picking up...

Still all go...

2010-06-18T12:54:00.002+01:00

Coming to the end of the working week, wrapping up reports for the house-builder, and the oil-spill client.

Arranging a presentation about the pharma plant for a couple of weeks in the future and making a start on the Indian job.

The US one should kick off next week, and a rush job from Uganda is expected soon too.

May well be working this weekend...

More international enquiries

2010-06-17T09:03:00.002+01:00

Yet more international enquiries, looks like I'm going to be making a few visits to Africa in the near future. I love an adventure...

Skype

2010-06-08T08:22:00.002+01:00

We are getting so many international enquiries that I am looking into getting Skype...Is this the weak pound effect?

Ringing off the hook

2010-06-04T17:01:00.003+01:00

Got an urgent UK government order last Saturday, been working solidly on a confidential (but highly topical) project all week.

Almost missed a second confidential project this afternoon from overseas due to 'phone traffic, then the Indian order arrived by snailmail, It's all go!

The house-builder's promised contract didn't arrive this week, but can't be bothered to chase it or the pharma plant order under the prevailing conditions.

Picking Up

2010-05-31T19:04:00.005+01:00

Got an order on Saturday to provide urgent assistance with a report on how to clean up oil-contaminated beaches (topically), and expecting another couple of formal orders tomorrow to assist an Indian leather goods manufacturer with water minimisation, and provide a remedy for a well-known housing developer who was sold an undersized packaged treatment plant.

With a stack of NTU exam papers to mark before Friday, and the possibility of an order in the near future for that overloaded pharma treatment plant, it's a bit like the old days...

Summer's here!

2010-05-23T15:09:00.003+01:00

My MA is finishing next week, so no more essay writing for me a while, and I have no teaching now until September.

We have just picked up a new client in India, in addition to the existing ongoing pharma effluent plant upgrade, and misbehaving package sewage plant jobs.

We are not running at full capacity, but the sun in shining, and I'm looking forward to getting out on the hills again...

Improvements better than expected

2010-04-27T10:54:00.003+01:00

Things were not quite as bad as expected, and though the client's improvements were sometimes ill-conceived, they were at least well-executed.

The same could not be said for his attempts to save money by emptying sludge three times less frequently than I specified in the manual. But he is, I suppose, learning as he goes.

I have a report to write, some lab-work and modifications to design. My other bits and bobs of engineering consultancy, and plenty of teaching and learning are keeping me pretty busy.

"Improvements"

2010-04-22T20:24:00.002+01:00

Off to visit a plant which the client has "improved" to the point where it no longer meets consent tomorrow, and a teleconference with the lawyers early next week about the undersized package plant.

Things are picking up a little, but accounts are in, and last year was a tough one...

Package Treatment Plant

2010-04-01T10:28:00.002+01:00

An order to assist with preparing a legal case against the supplier of an badly sized and poorly installed package treatment plant has come in (from a large well-known company), off to see them next week.

Other than that, more teaching, more learning, and the usual bits and bats of consultancy work.

Teaching and so on

2010-03-12T14:14:00.003Z

More teaching last week at NTU. Really enjoying it. Other than that, bits and bats of consultancy, (mainly Envirowise stuff) and the torture of reading those social science papers for my MA...

This blog has moved

2010-03-12T13:47:00.001Z

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Lecturing

2010-02-25T08:20:00.002Z

After an interview yesterday, I now have a formal contract for lecturing, at Nottingham Trent University. I am continuing with my less formal arrangements at Loughborough and Nottingham Universities...

Busier

2010-02-22T15:11:00.002Z

All of a sudden things are getting busy. I've got an interview on Wednesday to teach more formally at a third University, and I have a number of enquiries for troubleshooting jobs.

Off to see that misbehaving package plant tomorrow, with a possibility of a side visit to upgrade that pharma effluent plant to remove titanium on the way.

Teaching at Notts Uni again on Thursday, I even had an Envirowise enquiry when I came back to my desk.

It's dragging me away from the educational research I was reading for the next MA session, but that's a price I'll just have to pay. LOL!

Package Treatment Plant Problems etc.

2010-02-15T12:19:00.004Z

We got an enquiry today to help with a misbehaving Package Sewage Treatment Plant. I used to get at least one of these a month back before the recession hit. I always relish the challenge. As usual the client is on the brink of prosecution by the EA. No pressure then!

I've got a few books coming for reviews in the Chemical Engineer Magazine, and I'm finalising the material on solid waste treatment I'm due to deliver at Nottingham University on Wednesday.

I'm also negotiating with two separate clients for delivery of a distance learning course in hydraulic design.

Quite busy by recent standards...

What happens when you let an architect design a pumping station?

2010-01-28T20:06:00.005Z

Ever wondered what would happen if you abandoned your objections to the architect's artistic vision of the project and gave them free rein?

This is a sewage pumping station as designed by an architect.

More info

Business as usual II

2010-01-19T07:52:00.005Z

The call-out didn't come at 3AM Sunday morning as predicted, but at noon the previous day.

Frost damage had shattered many pipes, several pumps were air-locked, and there were unexpected foreign bodies in the feed which were causing blockages-and of course the buffer tanks were completely full at both sites, and the generators, instrumentation and SCADA system were also misbehaving.

It took half a day to patch things up, clear the blockages and airlocks, and get both plants running at top speed again to shift the melt-water.

Teaching/Bits and Bats

2010-01-14T08:34:00.005Z

I've been asked to be on high alert for problems with the Manchester groundwater treatment plants, but experience suggests that they never fail during the working week. I'm expecting the callout Sunday morning 3AM. Luckily I love an emergency.

I've received all sorts of exciteable emails from Invent Water Features/Invent Water Treatment's other creditors this last week, including solicitor's letters, threats of reporting to the DTI and so on.

I'd be a lot more excited if they owed me more than the £650 I'm down, and if I thought that it wasn't too apparent what happened to all of the company's assets and director's loans as the emails tell me it isn't.

Business as usual

2010-01-06T16:41:00.009Z

Called out again over the break, had a great drive over the Peak on empty frozen roads to Manchester to repair freezing damage to a groundwater treatment plant. This is why I have a Land Rover and snowchains-365 day call-out, weather not a factor. All went well, and we had a fine kebab on the way home.

Other than that, ploughing through Educational Research papers ready for the start of my MA-they are so sloppy compared with real science!

Invent Water Features creditor's meeting is in Bicester tomorrow, a long way away from all of the people up North who they owe money to. I hear official investigations of the directors and receivers are to be requested. People are unhappy.

The Big Freeze

2009-12-28T16:57:00.005Z

I was called out on Christmas Eve through the freezing fog to a groundwater treatment plant supposedly frozen solid. Four bags of rock salt and a fair bit of persistence by myself and an assistant allowed us to get the plant back up and running, an outcome the client had thought vanishingly unlikely. Most satisfying.

Happy New Year from all here.

Xmas Break

2009-12-21T10:57:00.003Z

Coming up to the Christmas break, with only a bit of coursework and some babysitting of a groundwater treatment plant to do over the next couple of weeks.

Merry Xmas from all here...

Lean times

2009-12-08T11:34:00.004Z

Only two tenders in the European Journal for the whole of the UK today, as opposed to the normal count of around 50. We aren't out of the recession yet!

I've been teaching and had a call-out to problems at a groundwater treatment plant in Manchester, but work has been pretty quiet overall. We are tendering for some new public sector work, and hope to fill any gaps with some bread and butter consultancy. We are not too worried, as teaching is proving time-consuming enough at present.

It looks like I'm not going to be getting better than 40p in the pound from Invent Water Features' unpaid debt, and even that is based on some pretty optimistic expectations of repayment of their own outstanding debts.

Invent Water Features

2009-11-19T16:57:00.004Z

A long-time client, Invent Water Features are in receivership, owing us a bit of money. Just as well we weren't relying on them to keep us afloat. Things are clearly still tough in the UK economy.

Emergency Callout Groundwater Treatment

2009-11-19T11:40:00.002Z

A call-out to a groundwater treatment plant earlier in the week showed a few interesting problems. "Dirty" power from a failing generator caused the failure of a single instrument (a Siemens Hydroranger), but the knock-on effect was total plant failure.

The software programmer had "interpreted" the requirements of the Functional Design Specification in such a way that this instrument became critical for plant operation. This was especially annoying as there was a backup instrument working on a more robust principle, but no way to switch plant operation over to this alternative instrument without a programmer on site.

Of course at the point where I was called, the working day was coming to an end, the plant's feed lagoon was on the point of overtopping, and it was raining. I love a challenge!

Naturally there was an expedient way to get the plant to go again, but the fix was a little questionable. I consequently thought it best to connect a web-cam into the system so that I could see and hear what was going on remotely, as well as being able to see what the SCADA shows. All is now well with the plant.

Anaerobic Digestion Lecturing

2009-11-19T11:22:00.006Z

I gave my first unattended University lecture yesterday, a seminar on Anaerobic Digestion, which seemed to go well enough. We'll see when I get the feedback questionnaires how well.

More of the same...

2009-11-05T16:17:00.005Z

I'm finishing the materials to be used in my anaerobic digestion course for Loughborough today, and preparing for a visit to Nottingham next week to see their first-years in action in a field experiment.

I've upgraded my teaching course to an MA, as there is little point in doing initial teacher training to teach in Higher Education. We learn as we go...

I got some interesting results from the laboratory trial of various coagulants for the pharmaceutical effluent treatment plant. Note floating sludge and reduced clarity in left-hand cylinder.

The best coagulant tested is around 1/10 the price of what is being used at the moment. It works better in the lab, but experience tells me that until we trial it on the plant, no firm conclusions can be drawn.

There is an added complication that the client has signed up for a long-term contract with a chemical supplier, so unless they can provide an equivalent product, there will be some serious contractual wrangling to be done. Rather them than me!

Troubleshooting, Teaching , and so on

2009-10-12T08:14:00.005+01:00

I've been quite busy with learning to teach, but I went down to see a plant I upgraded about a year ago last Friday for a "health check".

As it took the operators three-quarters of an hour to even find the O+M manual, it looked as if it hadn't seen much use. The recommended daily checks had been reduced to a quick look through the fence as they went past, and no checks at all on weekends or holidays. They had turned the coagulant dose right down and filled the plant with 32% acid and alkali to save on chemical costs, and unsupervised tanker drivers had been walking on the tray-work. Despite all of this, everything was still basically working.

I'm going to do a bit of lab-work this afternoon to see if they can use a cheaper coagulant than the fancy blend the original plant installers recommended. At £2 a litre, I can see how they want to turn the dose down, even if it does degrade plant performance.

I'm off to Nottingham this morning to see a few examples of good lecturing practice, and if I have time, I'm going to make a start on the anaerobic digestion course I'm doing for Loughborough.

Teaching

2009-09-12T12:31:00.001+01:00

A quiet month so far, other than getting confirmation that I will be able to teach at Nottingham University as well as Loughborough as part of my formal training as a lecturer.

Lecturing

2009-08-19T12:49:00.003+01:00

Picked up some lecturing work at Loughborough Uni.'s Engineering Dept. yesterday, which will give me an opportunity to practice the teaching skills I will learn in the diploma course I start in September.

I've got an interview at another relatively local University next month to see if I can pick up a little more, I need at least 75 hours of UK based teaching time per year for the practical bit of the teaching course.

Sewage Treatment Plant Operation and Maintenace

2009-08-17T19:10:00.003+01:00

Looks like we will be delivering the Sewage Treatment Plant Operation and Maintenance course in London come November. Spaces are available.

It will be being run two-handed between myself and a colleague who spent 20 years as a municipal plant manager and trade waste officer, so there will be a very practical slant.

Will have started the teaching course by then, so there will be an opportunity to integrate what I have learned into preparation of the course material.

Sudan, and continuing work

2009-08-03T11:22:00.002+01:00

Talking to someone about giving a course in Sudan in September. I won't be flying with the local airlines. They can crash without even getting off the runway.

Other than that, things are ticking over nicely. On site in Manchester a fair bit, water feature design on-going, discussions with Universities with respect to teaching continuing...

Iranian air travel, work and training

2009-07-27T11:08:00.009+01:00

Not so long ago a potential client told me that Iranian air travel was more or less as safe as anywhere when I declined to take internal flights in the country. He seemed pretty angry that I declined to fly with local carriers to save him a bit of money.

Recent events have however suggested that my concerns were well founded. Al Jazeera's report glosses over matters a little-Caspian Airways may not have crashed a plane since it was founded in 1993, but the Tupolev Tu-154 has had three serious crashes in Iran alone since 2002.

The combination of dodgy old Russian 'planes, poor maintenance procedures, and lack of spare parts are all contributors to Iran's poor aviation safety record. Look how overrepresented both Iran and the Tu-154 are on the BBC's Air Disasters list.

Water feature hydraulic design work is continuing, and am providing cover for plant operation in Manchester pretty regularly recently.

I'm looking to get a formal teaching qualification to boost my skills on the training side of things. I've been accepted on the course, now I just need to get a bit of UK based lecturing to practice with. I have a few Universities interested, just need to get something agreed before September...

Picking up...

2009-07-15T08:11:00.002+01:00

Things have picked up a little, with a callout on Monday to nurse a malfunctioning plant, as well as continuing work on the water feature job.

Got an enquiry to go and look at an underperforming effluent treatment plant from a very old contact on Tuesday too. Sounds like someone bought on the cheapest quote, without qualified professional advice. I've come across the equipment vendor before.....

Pharma effluent treatment plant health check visit negotiations continue. There's a lot of negotiation going on for a one-day visit!

Agencies

2009-07-11T13:57:00.003+01:00

Lots of calls from agencies last week seeing if I can provide jobs for engineers working in the municipal water sector. Looks like things are tight there, based on my discussions with the consultants from the agencies.

My water feature work continues, after a meeting last week to square the aesthetic requirements of architects with Montgomery Scott's traditional cry: " I canna' change the laws of physics".

I might be going back to see what the operators have made of the pharma effluent treatment plant I commissioned back at the turn of the year.

Oh, and there might be a training opportunity in Papua New Guinea.

Hydraulic design

2009-07-01T17:52:00.000+01:00

Picked up a bit of hydraulic design work yesterday, water features again...

Iran

2009-06-24T08:41:00.006+01:00

Went to see a man about a job in Iran yesterday. It's an interesting one, but under the present circumstances, I'm not falling over myself to go there.

I'm going to see UKTI this morning and discuss, and then send in my quote afterwards, once I have quantified the risks and seen how well they can be controlled.

One of the things I certainly won't be doing is taking any internal flights, despite the prospective client's protestations.

It is well known that the internal carrier's fleet is ageing and poorly maintained due in part due to lack of parts as a result of US sanctions. They are consequently rated 85 of a possible 88 in the world's airline accident ratings.

Chemical Engineering for Non Chemical Engineers Course

2009-06-15T19:15:00.006+01:00

Last weeks' Chemical Engineering for Non Chemical Engineers course in Abu Dhabi went well, and we got good feedback from the delegates.

As this course covers the same ground as the AIChE's most popular course ever, we hope to get a bit more mileage from the material.

I've been sprucing up the website today, adding a bit of new content, and updating the existing stuff. The new content includes my review of what may be the worst book ever published.

Enquiries from Iran, Sudan, and a few other really hot places. We'll see what comes through.

Green shoots-with roots?

2009-05-31T07:36:00.005+01:00

So, some of those enquiries came to fruition.

I'm off to Abu Dhabi next week to deliver a course (on Chemical Engineering for non-Chemical Engineers). They say Abu Dhabi is the new Dubai, but they will need a lot more flights laid on before it is anything like as easy to get to.

I've also been out to see a few people with industrial waste problems (on a paying basis, things are never so bad that people don't want free visits) and put a new tender in to WRAP.

Oh, and the lab finally managed not to smash all of the sample bottles in transit, so I got the results back on my tests of hydrogen peroxide versus aeration for methane removal.

Maybe things are looking up. I'm certainly pretty busy.

Green Shoots?

2009-04-24T10:50:00.002+01:00

Not sure if it is just chance, or something significant, but we have had an upsurge in enquiries in the last couple of weeks.

Misbehaving domestic package sewage treatment plants, industrial waste problems, overseas training opportunities, and quality issues work have all had a little upturn.

Maybe there is something in this green shoots stuff, whether real or psychological...

Wastewater Watch

2009-03-18T14:58:00.001Z

I have been reading the no-holds-barred "Wastewater Watch" newsletter from South Africa for some time, but now they have produced a website. Fantastic!

Quiet

2009-02-12T10:40:00.005Z

Things have been pretty quiet recently. Tenders have been submitted recently for Water and Waste Minimisation visits, training courses in the Middle East, and so on, but not working all that hard at the moment.

I'm looking into reducing dissolved methane in a treated groundwater by a number of chemical and physical means, as well as the usual bits and bats of consultancy.

Who knows why things are quiet. It's hard to see how the sort of thing we do here becomes any less pressing when things are tough, so we think that things should pick up when the regulators start pushing people to do the things they have presumably been putting off. Or it might just be a chance dip in enquiries. We take a pretty philosophical view of such things here.

Clarifier Upgrade: Pharma ETP

2008-12-13T14:35:00.005Z

Clarifier with Chains
Originally uploaded by expertise.limited

We enhanced the performance of the final clarifier by fitting a stainless steel screen to the outlet.

As our screen was square, and the tank was not, this took a certain amount of effort, and plenty of mastic!

Fitting the screen in this way enhanced clarifier performance from peak concentrations of >5000 mg/l suspended solids to <100 mg/l!

Controls: Pharma ETP

2008-12-13T14:31:00.006Z

Controls
Originally uploaded by expertise.limited

The overly complex PLC based controls of the original plant were replaced by a dedicated pH controller, and these three boxes.

These are a distribution board, an ultrasonic controller, and an inverter.

These replace the plc without a human interface which the original installers used.

Since at least monthly intervention is required to calibrate the pH probe, this might be viewed as a design weakness, or an attempt to prevent the purchaser from using another plant maintenace company.

Polymer Dosing: Pharma Effluent

2008-12-13T13:54:00.003Z

Polymer Dosing
Originally uploaded by expertise.limited

This is the polymer dosing pump and storage tank, for dosing an aluminium based coagulant for colour removal.

We refitted the old polymer dosing pump to a reconditioned IBC, and new downpipe. We also replaced its outgoing line with new twinwall stock.

The polymer pump was rewired to the new control system and interlocked to feed pump operation from its inverter.

pH Dosing Kit: Pharma Effluent

2008-12-13T13:40:00.004Z

pH Dosing Kit
Originally uploaded by expertise.limited

This is the pH correction system, dosing up to 32% HCl and 20% NaOH by means of dosing pumps controlled by the yellow unit in the foreground.

Chemical storage is 2 No. 1000 L reconditioned IBCs.

Dosing lines are twin-wall for safety.

Chemical dosing operation is interlocked to feed pump operation via a feed from the inverter.

Dihydrogen monoxide

2008-10-03T09:44:00.003+01:00

For those of you unaware of the dangers, take a look at the MSDS for DHMO. Worrying stuff. Dangerous chemicals seem to be everywhere now.

Publications

2008-09-18T16:49:00.004+01:00

We have added some new content to the website, in the form of a collection of recent publications:
some book reviews, a water feature design manual, an article on packaged waste water treatment plant problems, and a literature review on PCB water treatment technologies.

Things are proceeding well in other areas, getting ready for the pharma. plant upgrade in November, and picking up a few new clients.

Electrician

2008-09-03T11:43:00.006+01:00

Detailed design is proceeding with the pharma effluent treatment plant upgrade, should get the major plant items purchased this week.

I see Ben Goldacre's Bad Science site has a water section.

Oily Sludges

2008-08-26T11:46:00.004+01:00

So it turned out that the heating and aeration of the oily sludges as part of the test for aerobic degradation broke the emulsion, where all other attempts had failed. Investigations continue.

I got an interesting email from South Africa this week, prompted by my page on package plant failures.

Steve Nicol of Wastewater Watch in SA produces an amusing name and shame newsletter for those he considers to be rogue package plant manufacturers in his country.

Design is proceeding on the upgrading of the failing pharma effluent treatment plant. We should be on-site in October/November to carry out the work.

Invest NI

2008-08-01T09:10:00.004+01:00

We have been appointed for a second term as advisors to the Central Procurement Directive in Northern Ireland. Which is nice.

Emergency callout yesterday to problems on a groundwater treatment plant. Didn't take long to diagnose problems with a pressure sensor were inhibiting pump start.

No word back on the three tenders we have out, so had gone fishing. Was glad to be called away, it was hammering it down with rain, thunder and lightning...

Progress

2008-07-24T16:53:00.003+01:00

My French student is leaving today, so the supply of free assistance to my regular clients has ended!

The digestion experiments on PCB containing oily sludge seemed to give gently promising results, at least at 35C, so we may investigate further.

No problems with the turning down of the duff ETP's flow rate, so the client now has a bid for doing what is required to control the remaining non-compliances.

An enquiry for a metals removal plant came in this week, looks interesting, but the enquirer wants a free visit to discuss the job up-front, which may be problematic. I always find one can tell a serious from a speculative enquiry by whether the client will pay to meet you.

Troubleshooting and Experiments

2008-07-16T11:01:00.003+01:00

Spent a long day yesterday troubleshooting problems with the duff effluent treatment plant for the pharma client previously discussed. Managed to solve his excessive flow to sewer by simply restricting air flow to his diaphragm pumps. The client had not thought of this because he was convinced that his effluent flow rate was around five times its actual value. Always good to check your assumptions. Couldn't get his pH correction system online, due to problems with an injection lance, but increasing the alum dose brought the pH into spec. anyway. Just the problems with COD, suspended solids and heavy metals to solve now.

Also had a call from the Environment Agency yesterday about a former client who has tried to solve his own problems with an undersized effluent treatment plant. Like a lot of inexpert clients with such problems, he had been duped by a succession of snake-oil salesmen into trying all sorts of quick fixes, none of which had worked. He only carried out the cheaper of my recommendations, as cheaply as possible, and now it seems he is likely to get prosecuted.

The morals are:

1. All the magic bugs, fat dissolvers, swimming-pool filters and chemical dosing in the world will not save you if your plant is not the right size, installed, operated and maintained correctly. If it is correctly designed, installed, operated and maintained, you will not need these things.

2. If you spend money on a consultant, follow his suggestions. Waving a report whose suggestions you did not implement at the EA will not save you from prosecution.

Experiments on PCB containing oily sludges are going OK, in the strict scientific sense. That is, we have no growth yet of either anaerobic or aerobic organisms on the stuff. Of course, from a practical point of view, this disappoints.

STOP PRESS-LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS REPEALED

2008-07-07T14:44:00.008+01:00

"Run your car on water": hxxp://water4gas.com (url altered to avoid bumping their Google position) This guy's "invention" produces hydrogen and oxygen from water by electrolysis, and then you burn the mixture to drive your car. The site is full of anecdotal reports that this boosts fuel economy by 60%. This is basically a development of a long-discredited perpetual motion machine. This is even more stupid than my favourite crank site of all.

In case you don't know why, ignore driving the wheels, imagine a system where we just charge the battery. When we burn the hydrogen, we lose some energy as heat. Some of the energy goes to drive the alternator, which puts electricity in the battery, again with some inefficiency, lost as heat. The energy in the battery produces oxygen, hydrogen and more heat. We burn the hydrogen, much less than before due to loss of energy as heat...The energy obtained by burning the hydrogen is always less than the energy it took to make it. No perpetual motion, no energy from water, no two ways about it. Second law of thermodynamics. Look it up.

Then on the same day, I get a communication from from the get rich quick team at at hxxp://www.the6figureteam.com, offering the same thing. Now I know fuel is expensive, but wishful thinking isn't going to make it better.

I'm incidentally presently running my Landrover Discovery 200 TDi on around 40% soya oil at 87p a litre from Costco. That's a practical solution for cars that will take it. "Carbon neutral" and cheap too. Of course Costco soya oil is made from GM beans, and is therefore Frankenfuel. LOL.

PCB sludges

2008-06-19T12:48:00.003+01:00

Things not looking too promising for the experiment set up on Monday to test anaerobic digestion of PCB containing oily sludges in Manchester. No evidence of any gas generation as yet.

Awaiting the order for starting sampling work to establish the bast way forward for the pharma client.

Continuing to review "Elements of Environmental Chemistry". Can't see a thing wrong with it so far...

PCBs in oily sludges, Environmental Chemistry, Chopper Pumps and truth comes to Homeopathy

2008-06-11T16:04:00.015+01:00

Other than designing a solution to the problems of our new pharmaceutical client, I have been reviewing a book for The Chemical Engineer magazine, and looking at carrying out an experiment to determine how well anaerobic digestion might reduce PCB levels in oily sludges.

I am having difficulty at present sourcing a small chopper pump which can be controlled by inverter to provide a better, smoother feed to the pharma client's plant without blocking concerns. No problem getting one with 75mm discharge size or above, but the small ones don't have an over-rated motor, which is recommended for variable speed drive.

The book I am reviewing is "Elements of Environmental Chemistry" by Ronald Hites. Seems like a pretty good little textbook.

The oily sludges I hope to treat with AD have been a problem at a couple of sites I provide technical cover for for years now, and it is getting increasingly difficult and expensive to dispose of them. It would be nice if we can get PCB levels down to non-hazardous numbers by this process. The experiment is fairly quick and dirty, so we should have a rough answer by August.

Something amusing I saw today on the quackery front: truth in alternative medicine at last...

Design Errors: Static Mixers

2008-06-04T09:37:00.004+01:00

A quiet sort of a week in the main. Cyril continues his research into treatment of PCBs in groundwater. I have been engaged with the pharmaceutical client mentioned previously on here.

They have what must be one of the worst effluent treatment plants I have ever seen in terms of fundamental design flaws. One of the biggest of them was the use of static mixers to mix acid and coagulant with effluent, which was pumped by diaphragm pumps. This showed a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of static mixers in the system designer. Static mixers blend fluids across the body of the mixer. If you feed them with a pulsating flow from a diaphragm pump, and an out-of synch. pulsating flow from a dosing pump, you end up with constantly varying degrees of mix in the outlet flow. The normal rule of sampling at least 10 pipe diameters downstream to get 95% degree of mix no longer applies. Your pH probe for example will see extreme variation in measures pH, and instead of gaining control to +/- 0.1pH units as you should from a system like this, you will be lucky to see +/- 0.5 pH units.

Packaged Sewage Treatment Plants and BS EN 12566-3

2008-05-28T09:48:00.009+01:00

More enquiries have come in from people with misbehaving small effluent treatment plants. I have covered some of the more interesting problems I have encountered previously with small plants on my website here.

Most of the non-compliant effluent treatment plants I see have been undersized, poorly maintained, and often worsened by the attention of unqualified "engineers" from maintenance companies.

From July of this year, BS EN 12566-3 replaces all national standards for sewage treatment plants for up to 50 population equivalent. Trading standards will enforce it, and it will require plants to have been tested to meet a set standard. The plants will therefore deliver a set standard at their rated population equivalent.

I have however only once been called out to a plant which was incapable of meeting its claimed standard by reason of incompetent basic design (that manufacturer shortly afterwards started to offer someone else's design, whilst not admitting that theirs was incapable of performing as claimed). The problem is more commonly poor specification, installation or maintenance.

What we therefore need now if for someone to make the specifier comply with the British Water Code of Practice in setting a conservative population equivalent for their development, and for someone to explain to the monkeys who work for maintenance companies that no amount of sucking sludge into a tanker makes you an engineer, and I'll be out of a job. I'm not losing any sleep about it. You can go to jail for claiming to be a Doctor, but anyone can claim to be an Engineer.

PCBs and Pharmaceutical Effluent

2008-05-21T10:12:00.004+01:00

It's been a quiet week in the office. I've mostly been attempting to teach my French work experience student (Cyril) how to use a library to research an area of scientific interest. In this case, the subject of interest is PCB contaminated groundwater. He is looking as some problems with floating oily sludges on a treatment plant I look after.

It turns out that the French-speaking world have never heard of the Science Citation Index and Chemical Abstracts. I'm waiting to find out what their librarians recommend as an alternative.

Just as I write that things are quiet, I have received a call from some people I quoted six months ago to look at a problem on a pharmaceutical effluent treatment plant...

Water: Science and Pseudoscience

2008-05-14T14:43:00.005+01:00

I've decided to start a blog on the company website, covering things which interest me professionally.

I'm a Chemical Engineer and Environmental Scientist, working mainly in the field of Water Engineering, though I do also deal in more general environmental advice, mostly on behalf of a government funded scheme called Envirowise.

I used to work for water contractors who you will not now have heard of, because it is seemingly a rule in the water industry that companies have to change the name of their company from time to time, for a number of reasons. For good companies, this is usually something to do with the marketing department. For bad companies, the reasons may be less honourable. None of the people I used to work for went bust by bidding jobs at less than cost and then came back one month later as "(old company name) 2008 Limited", but this is far from uncommon in the industry.

I do quite a bit of work of packaged sewage treatment plants which are misbehaving, look after some groundwater treatment plants, and am also presently involved in something I do a bit of from time to time, water feature design. I am helping with the design of water features in the Parc1 development in Korea. Don't click on the link unless you have broadband, the graphic designers have gone nuts on the website.

I'm also interested in water quackery, and will post some stuff on this as I come across new examples.