Although pilot plants have traditionally been used in the drinking water treatment
industry for a variety of reasons including evaluation of current and new treatment
technologies, few have been designed specifically for operator training purposes. The pilot
water filtration plant in the Environmental Training Center (ETC) at Penn State Harrisburg
(PSH) was primarily designed to address the need for hands-on operator training. The pilot
treatment unit operations include coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and
ozonation. The treatment train operates at an average flow rate of two gallons per minute
(GPM) and a maximum flow rate of 4 GPM. Tank and piping layout allow the possibility of
alternative treatment process configurations such as direct or in-line filtration to be included.
Various sampling locations are located throughout the treatment train to collect water
samples for analysis. Online plant instrumentation and data collection used in full-scale
operations are included for operator use. All unit process tanks are constructed of clear
acrylic allowing operators the opportunity to see into the tanks. This reinforces concepts
addressed in the classroom during training workshops. After training, operators can better
understand the reasons necessary to make operational adjustments at their facilities if called
upon to do so. They will also review and analyze the data collected throughout the treatment
runs and analyze it to make necessary operational adjustments. Before training workshops
could be developed, considerable effort went into determining doses of clay and coagulants,
which were needed to quickly and dramatically demonstrate treatment principals to trainees.
Discussion also includes unique design considerations that differentiate a training oriented
plant from research plants, problems encountered with the low operating flow rate of 2 GPM,
and the operator training course manuals and materials that were developed for the use of the
pilot unit as a hands-on training tool. Includes 3 references, tables, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 400 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 13 |
| Published : | 06/16/2002 |
