Greening the Plant: Breath of Air (TPO Magazine)

High-Speed Turbo Blowers play a central role in a Texas treatment plant’s energy efficiency upgrade project

Operators at the Grace Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Longview, Texas, expect significant savings from an energy efficiency project that includes replacement of two of five older aeration blowers with high-speed, high-efficiency units. The project is part of a $1,045,625 project that also includes a cogeneration power plant with a 65 kW microturbine that operates on digester methane. The projects were funded in part by a $781,900 Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, according to Shawn Raney, chairman of the city’s Energy Management Committee. The grant was supplemented by money from the city Water Utilities Fund. Scott Baggett, the plant manager at Grace Creek, says the aeration blower project designed by KSA Engineers will offer many benefits. The new APG-Neuros NX 150 turbo blowers — a 125 hp unit and a 150 hp unit — operate on air bearings, making them energy efficient, low maintenance, and quiet. The blowers are now the primary units in the aeration system. The 150 hp blower can be routed to either of the two pairs of aeration basins at the plant. The 125 hp blower is routed to a pair of square basins next to the blower room.

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