Installations

ProLogis, Fontana, California

Background: ProLogis is a leading global provider of distribution facilities, with more than 475 million square feet of industrial space in markets all across North America, Europe, and Asia. ProLogis purchased a large amount of acreage surrounding the former Kaiser steel mill in Fontana, California and redeveloped the property for commercial and industrial use. As part of its activities, ProLogis acquired the 7-acre Kaiser Steel wastewater treatment plant, operated under contract. The plant receives domestic waste from many of the surrounding commercial and industrial properties, including several big-box stores and from the California Speedway, which produces a high volume of sewage on race days. ProLogis needed to bring the plant effluent into compliance with the regulatory discharge standards. Additionally, ProLogis desired to sell treated water to California Steel Industries (CSI), but was having difficulty meeting CSI’s required quality standards for re-use. The recommended MMF total treatment system, including disinfection using chlorine contact tanks and a side-stream reverse osmosis system for blending to meet CSI’s water quality specification. This commercial system has an MMF System capacity of 120,000 gpd in a 2 x 60,000 gpd configuration with a CS750 Solids Separator located at the plant’s headworks and only uses less than 1,000 square feet of space. Effluent from the Solids Separator is directed to an existing trickling filter (for treatment of ammonium) then to the MMF Modular Filtration system. A side stream is put through a reverse osmosis system to remove certain undesirable constituents and is then blended back into the disinfected effluent to achieve the CSI standards. A holding pond is used on race days to store the high volume of MMF Solids Separator effluent, and then metered out from the holding pond to the trickling filter and the MMF Modular Filters over time.

Current Status: This small commercial plant has been producing reliable wastewater treatment for over two years and has been delivering re-use water to California Steel Industries for that period of time for use as cooling tower make-up. This project shows how MMF’s total treatment system can be effectively integrated into an existing wastewater treatment plant to achieve the desired effluent quality level for re-use.

Background: The City of Adelanto is located in the desert of Victor Valley in San Bernardino County, California. With a growing population, the City’s wastewater treatment plant designed for 1.5 mgd and in 2007 was operating over capacity at nearly 1.9 mgd, and having difficulty meeting the State of California POTW discharge standards to its percolation ponds set forth under Waste Discharge Requirements -Board Order No. R6V-2002-050. On August 29, 2007 the Regional Water Quality Control Board adopted Cease and Desist Order R6V-2007-24 (CDO) to correct flow, biological oxygen demand and dissolved oxygen violations at the facility. Prior to issuance of this CDO, the City was informed of MMF’s technology through its POTW operator. After detailed review by the City’s contract engineer, the City selected MMF to provide and install the equipment necessary to process 4 mgd, with provision for modular expansion capacity to 8mgd, and with the requirement to meet or exceed all water discharge permit conditions.

The City’s Alternatives: In reviewing the available alternatives, the City evaluated the cost of doubling the existing aeration pond installation to process another 1.5 mgd of influent. This alternative would have required the purchase of an adjoining 10-acre parcel of land, driving up the cost of the conventional alternative.

The MMF system was quoted to the City on existing land (due to the compact footprint) at a price less than 50% of the conventional alternative. The scope included all engineering, site work, underground and above-ground piping, foundations, building structures, and installation of three Solids Separators, 3 mgd of MMF Modular Filtration continuous backwash sand filter vessels, and piping provisions for the addition of another 1 mgd of capacity when required. Because the MMF system was sized to completely replace the existing and proposed expansion to the aeration system (except for septage treatment), the annual operating costs are projected to decrease from the estimated $1.9mm/year after the conventional expansion alternative.

By choosing the MMF system, the City saved in capital costs and will save over $1.0mm per year in operating costs. Additionally, if it chooses, the City can use the recovered Gross Solids from the MMF Solids Separators as a feedstock into a gasification/reciprocating engine combination to produce a portion of its power requirements on-site. Otherwise, the Gross Solids can be disposed in a local landfill. With the MMF system there is no production of aerobic or anaerobic biosolids. With the conventional expansion, the amount of biosolids would have increased as plant capacity increased over time, with current disposal costs to Arizona of approximately $95 per ton.

With MMF’s modular system approach, the City will be able to expand Solids Separator capacity in 2 mgd increments and Modular Filtration treatment capacity in increments of 250,000 gpd for the next 1 mgd, then install the concrete pads and buildings for the next 4 mgd (with underground piping already installed), and add Solids Separator and Modular Filtration capacity as required to accommodate growth. The MMF total solution will enable the City to avoid the large lumpy capital investment normally associated with capacity expansions and economically add capacity in small, affordable increments for many years to come.