Project Report

Fluidmechanically optimized INVENT mixing and aeration systems have been providing reliable wastewater treatment in an industrial park on the Danish island of Zealand since 2016.

Approximately 70% of the total energy demand of a water or wastewater treatment plant is consumed specifically for the mixing and aeration systems in the activated sludge process. In view of that it is becoming increasingly important to use systems that deal with resources in a responsible way.

HYPERCLASSIC^® -Mixer – the hyperboloid mixing technology

INVENT made significant contributions to the efficiency and effectiveness of such plants with the introducing of hyperboloid mixing technology in the early 1990s. Since this time, the hyperboloid mixing technology has been continuously developed. Many thousands of successfully operating installations world-wide impressively demonstrate that the HYPERCLASSIC^®-Mixer has become the industry standard in this field of application.

Example New York City

The tremendous potential for energy savings can be shown using the example of the large wastewater treatment plant Bowery Bay in New York City. At an equal purifying capacity the energy costs of the Hyperboloid-Mixers have shown to be as little as only a third as those of the replaced mixers. The slightly higher initial capital costs were compensated by reduced operational costs. In total, the savings mounted up to 3,500,000 US-Dollar over a period of 10 years. The New York experience demonstrates without doubt, that the selection of mixing equipment has a significant effect on the operating costs of large wastewater treatment plants.

Due to the achieved energy savings and high level of reliability of the INVENT equipment the City of New York also have converted Wards Island, Jamaica Bay, Coney Island, Rockaway Beach and Hunts Point plants to INVENT Mixers.

Product information

The HYPERCLASSIC^®-Mixer is the optimum mixer for all suspending and homogenization tasks required for water and wastewater treatment. The rotation of the hyperboloid-shaped mixer-body close to the bottom generates high-speed and turbulence at the bottom of the basin. This reliably prevents the settling of sludge particles. Eight transport ribs generate a three-dimensional main flow with a high circulation rate. This ensures excellent, uniform mixing. Because of the low speeds, the energy input is low in shear force. Sludge flocculation is thus subjected mechanically to minimal stress loads. Low speed at the water surface reliably prevents aerosol formation and oxygen transfer. The efficient design and the use of rugged materials minimize operating and maintenance costs.

One of our leading products ensures reliable mixing in the flocculation basins of a drinking water treatment plant in the Southeastern USA.

Drinking water treatment is one of the most important public tasks worldwide. Even where fresh water is available in sufficient quantities, the water must be clarified, filtered, and disinfected to make it safe for human consumption and for supplying to drinking water systems. There is also no shortage of available water in Georgetown County in the U.S. state of South Carolina, which lies directly on the Atlantic Ocean. A number of rivers together form an estuarine delta here, including expansive marshy areas.

The Georgetown County Water and Sewer District Public Water Utility has been operating since 1967. It is responsible for supplying more than 20,000 households and established industrial and commercial enterprises. Among other things, GCWSD operates a drinking water treatment plant, which recently required replacement of aging equipment. These updates included a replacement of their vertical inclined-blade flocculators, which had reached the end of their useful life.

In their search for a high-performance replacement that could solve the problems associated with the accumulation of solids in the flocculation basin, while still maintaining good floc formation, the managers found what they were looking for through our local representative, DXP|Premier Water of Charlotte, NC. They ultimately offered the INVENT HYPERCLASSIC^® Flocculation System, the world’s leading technical product for this application.

The HYPERCLASSIC^® Flocculation System utilizes a hyperboloid shape to effectively balance the amount of mixing energy required to prevent settling in the floc basins, while simultaneously minimizing floc shear. The hyperboloid shape allows for a gradual acceleration of the floc particles to gently transfer the mixing energy to the particles and prevent breakage.

After the first year of operation the plant staff inspected the new hyperboloid flocculators and found almost no settling or build-up in the flocculation basins, even when using lime for pH adjustment. This was a welcome change for maintenance staff from the previous equipment, which used to cause significant settling and sludge buildup.

INVENT is proud to be a part of improving local water treatment systems. Thank you to Georgetown County WSD, we appreciate their trust in our equipment.

Thanks to the mixing and aeration technology from Erlangen, Germany, a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant is now able to transform wastewater from a vacation resort into valuable hydration for an evergreen golf paradise.

There is plenty to discover in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Its fortified baroque downtown with featuring a number of striking church buildings has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008.

In the recent past, sophisticated weekend and vacation home developments have emerged around this gem. In keeping with the upscale construction quality, the builders of one of these resorts implemented an equally high-quality wastewater treatment plant fitted with technical equipment from INVENT.

The plant, which was built in 2017, is designed for a wastewater volume of 1,080 cubic meters per day and operates based on SBR treatment technology. A “Sequencing Batch Reactor” requires the construction of basins for pre-treatment, for the periodically repeated multi-phase sewage sludge treatment (filling, aeration, mixing, emptying) and for the clear water that in the end is the result of the process.

This is where the INVENT technology comes in with three rectangular tanks. In the SBR tank (dimensions length 22 m x width 10 m x depth 5 m), two HYPERCLASSIC^®-Mixing and Aeration Systems, each with a diameter of 2.5 m, along with an aeration system, ensure uniform mixing of the content. In a final step, the extracted water is discharged from the SBR basin via an iDEC^®-Decanting System with a pipe diameter of 20 cm.

A INVENT HYPERCLASSIC^®-Mixer featuring a diameter of 2 m is utilized in the 12 m x 5 m x 5 m equalization basin, and an iCBA^®-Aeration System with 18 aerators is utilized in the sewage sludge basin of the same size, to prevent, among other things, foul odor emissions.

With the water extracted from the wastewater treatment plant, the operators of a neighboring golf course cover their needs for the green areas and the artificial lake in between.

Now in its fifth year, the INVENT technology is running efficiently and contributing almost silently, yet effectively, to the comfort and recreational value of the residential and recreational complex.

Since 2014, quality INVENT products have provided reliable aeration of highly sensitive waste water in a petroleum refinery south of Oslo.

If our systems could talk, they’d have a lot to say. They’d tell how reliably and uncomplainingly they have performed their duties day in and day out in all seasons of the year.

Just look at Norway! On the western shore of the Oslo fjord — more specifically in Slagentangen, near the town of Tønsberg, energy conglomerate ExxonMobil has operated a large refinery for North Sea petroleum since 1961. About 6 million tons of oil are processed here every year.

Naturally, an operation like this has its own sewage treatment plant. In 2014, the operators had an outstanding idea — for purifying waste water, they ordered a TEX-FLEX^®-Aeration System consisting of 15 liftable modules, each with 12 aeration elements.

A liftable TEX-FLEX^®-Module consists of a TEX-FLEX^® aeration grid, complete with bracket and steel beam. The grid is made of pre-assembled rust-free premium stainless steel tubes, whose openings are equipped with fine-meshed membranes of insensitive textile fibers. Robust hoses feed the air in.

The 15 modules were installed in a ring-shaped waste water tank with an external diameter of 22.5 m and an internal diameter of 12.5 m. The tank’s capacity is about 1,575 cubic meters. The aeration is needed for chemical processes that treat organic compounds in the waste water, which arise from oil processing.

For almost eight years, the operators have been satisfied with their maintenance-free INVENT aeration system, and so are we!