One of the largest wastewater treatment plants in the world recently finished a project for upgrading its sludge valve actuators. In a wastewater treatment process, these valves drain activated sludge from a reservoir and send it to a digester where it is processed. Normal operation of these valves is carried out using a manual handwheel; however, the operation is also commonly accomplished by means of electric, hydraulic or pneumatic actuators.

Moline (IL) Water Filtration Treatment Plant purifies water from the Mississippi River and supplies drinking water to city residents. Plant personnel are constantly working to improve processes in an effort to exceed stringent state and federal regulations. The plant removes particulate matter from the river water using eight mixed media rapid gravity filters.

The City of Stuart Advanced Water Reclamation Facility is a wastewater treatment plant that produces near-potable, reclaimed water for irrigation uses in South FL. The plant was built in 1955 and most recently upgraded in 2011. The treatment process includes a Dissolved Oxygen System with (3) Aeration Basins. Installing Beck electric actuators on the aeration blower control valves has improved process stability and plant operations.

Common bitumen extraction techniques used throughout the Alberta oil sand region include the Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) and the High Pressure Cyclic Steam Stimulation (HPCSS). As the names imply, both processes require the controlled injection of high pressure steam into wells below the ground surface.

The Port St. Lucie Prineville Reverse Osmosis (RO) Water Treatment Plant has been supplying drinking water to the area since 1998. The RO equipment has a capacity of 11.15 MGD with 5 Membrane Skids. Replacing conventional electric actuators with Beck on the feed and membrane valve on one skid yielded significant benefits:

Controlling furnace draft pressure is a critical part of overall crude heater combustion control and operation. Furnace draft has a profound effect on combustion efficiency, stack emissions, heater life and operating safety. Pressure excursions – positive or negative – cause inefficient combustion and can lead to heater damage and unsafe operating conditions. Since the furnace draft pressure is controlled by the heater’s stack damper, it follows that the stack damper actuator plays an important role in overall heater efficiency and safety.

In March 1996, EPRI sponsored a demonstration project to showcase the potential for reducing NOx emissions by improving combustion control without the use of SOFA or Low-NOx burners. The project scope included the installation of Beck Drives on the windbox dampers, burner tilts, coal mill dampers, fan dampers and boiler feed pump fluid couplings. A Foxboro IA DCS and Rosemount sensors were also installed. TVA/EPRI is convinced that the accuracy and repeatability of the Beck drives has allowed them to maximize NOx reduction and improve boiler efficiency.

The Nucor facility in Flowood, MS was previously owned by the Birmingham Steel Corporation, and it was sold to Nucor Steel in November 2002. The site is a mini-mill that produces approximately 400,000 tons per year of structural steel including flat, angle and rebar products. Major equipment in the mill includes one electric arc furnace (EAF), one multi-strand continuous caster, and one rolling mill with a Bricmont reheat furnace. PLC controls are used in all operating areas.

In 2011, the City of Durham’s North Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) identified an opportunity to improve reliability and reduce maintenance costs associated with their ducking skimmer scum troughs by replacing the multi-rev electric actuators with Beck rotary actuators. Scum troughs remove sludge from the surface of the feed water and are integral to most primary, secondary and final clarifiers.