Pretend youre a movie scout,

looking for a unique and elegant

location. After an extensive
search, you find it at a wastewater treatment plant!
TEXT JEAN WESLEY PHOTOS PHILIPP RITTERMAN

Picture
perfect
A

t rst, Hollywood and wastewater treatment may seem like an

unlikely pair. But the City of San Diego Metropolitan Wastewater Departments (MWWD ) Metro Biosolids Center (MBC )
is an uncommon place.
From serving as a two-time movie set to winning awards for striking architectural design, the MBC has been recognized as an industry
leader in creative thinking, community involvement and environmental responsibility.
The MWWD includes several facilities interconnected through an
elaborate pipeline system, including the MBC , the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant and the North City Water Reclamation Plant.
Completed in 1998, the MBC was designed with an artistic air not
commonly associated with government departments. Older MWWD
buildings have been renovated to reect a similar sensibility, intewww.alfalaval.com/here

wastewater
treatment

grating the buildings into

the communities they serve.

A real powerhouse
The MWWD s real strength
extends far beyond its facilities good looks.
The MWWD serves a 450square-mile area in Greater
San Diego. Two million people from 16 cities and districts generate up to 680,000 cubic metres
(180 million gallons) of wastewater daily. The plant handles this challenge with ease. In the process, it not only generates enough power to
be entirely self-sufcient, but excess power is sold to the local energy
here november 2003

11

The MWWD serves a

450-square-mile area
in Greater San Diego.
grid, offsetting operating costs and making a positive environmental
impact on the community.

Thickening and digesting

The heart of the MWWD system,

the MBC, processes both raw sludge from North City and digested
sludge from the Point Loma plant. The digested solids arrive via a 17mile pipeline.
This offsite solids treatment is fairly rare in the industry and required extensive planning. In fact, the MWWD invested over 33 million U.S. dollars in engineering and construction management costs
for the MBC development.
Raw sludge is treated at both MBC and Point Loma using the same
process. After degritting and screening to eliminate large materials,
raw solids are directed to chambers to remove heavy inorganic particles and organic solids. Ferric chloride and organic polymers are
added to help the waste particles bond together and settle out.
At this point in the process, approximately 80 percent of the total
suspended solids in the water have been removed, and the treated
wastewater, or efuent, can be discharged to the ocean. The sludge
continues on for additional processing.
Alfa Laval spiral heat exchangers are used to preheat the sludge. In

any given minute, 2,5003,000 litres (650780 gallons) of sludge ow

through the spirals.
The undigested sludge from the North City plant is pumped into
one of the MBC digesters. A heat and bacterial process similar to
human digestion reduces the volume dramatically. Over 15 to 20
days, bacteria consume approximately 60 percent of organic matter,
reducing volatile solids and creating digested sludge in the process.
The spiral heat exchangers also maintain the heat in the airtight
digesters, keeping the sludge at the optimum temperature for digestion. The spiral heat exchangers are easier to maintain, are more efcient and have a smaller footprint than the shell-and-tube technology
commonly used in the past.

Reduced disposal costs After digestion, sludge from both

the Point Loma and North City facilities is commingled at the MBC
and it all moves on for processing in Alfa Laval decanter centrifuges.
These decanters dewater the blended wet biosolids by using centrifugal force to remove water.
As the decanter rotates, the liquid, or centrate, is separated from
the dewatered biosolids. The centrate returns through the sewer system to Point Loma for processing. The pumps feeding the decanters

Flowing smoothly
In wastewater treatment, downtime is unacceptable equipment
downtime can quickly lead to harmful environmental consequences. In
this environment, preventative maintenance is key.
Preventing downtime led the Metropolitan Wastewater Department to
choose a Performance Agreement
with Alfa Laval for equipment maintenance at the Metro Biosolids Center.
The Alfa Laval Performance Agreement pertains to eight DS-706 dewatering decanters and five PM-95000
thickening decanters. (The Alfa Laval
spiral heat exchangers on-site are
not part of the agreement, as they

The MBC was designed with an

artistic flair not commonly associated
with government departments.
12 here november 2003

are virtually maintenance free.)

Routine equipment maintenance
and inspection at regular intervals;
minor, intermediate and major service over the lifecycle of the equipment; labour and part expenses;
telephone technical support; onsite
training; and the extended warranty
are all rolled into one fixed cost.
This program allows accurate
budget planning and eliminates unpleasant financial surprises if a technical need arises.
In between visits, the MBCs internal staff completes regular maintenance. They have ongoing access to
technical resources at Alfa Lavals
Contact Center via phone. Plus, on-

site training for new staff ensures

that the staff is trained in all proper
maintenance procedures.
This Performance Agreement has
been in effect since 2001 and is
scheduled to run until 2005, with a
renewal at the end of each 12-month
period.
Jack Swerlein, Plant Superintendent at the MWWD, says: We have
saved 1.8 million dollars on our annual biosolid disposal costs after
changing our dewatering process
from a belt press operation to Alfa
Laval centrifuges. The Performance
Agreement and Extended Warranty
have played a key role in achieving
these cost savings".

Jack Swerlein, Plant Superintendent

at the MWWD.

33 www.alfalaval.com/here/sludge/sandiego
an international magazine from alfa laval

www.alfalaval.com/here

here november 2003

13

The decanter centrifuges dewater the blended wet biosolids.

The spiral heat exchangers are

used to preheat the sludge and to
keep it at the optimum temperature for digestion.

automatically adjust the speed, depending on programmed parameters and the number of centrifuges on line.
The remaining biosolids, or cake, are the consistency of wet clay,
which is transported to nearby landlls or land applied for benecial
use. The decanters help produce a high quality cake; MBC reduced its
annual disposal costs by 1.8 million dollars thanks to the improved
cake quality produced by the decanters.

The power of self-sufficiency The digestion process and

liquid biosolids storage tanks both create methane gas as a byproduct.

This is captured to produce electricity to meet

the facilities power needs, and the excess powers other homes in the community. The MBC
saves the city approximately 45,000 U.S. dollars a week by generating its own power. Even
when the city of San Diego was entangled in
an energy crisis in 2002, all MWWD facilities
remained operational during brownouts.
For all of its environmental efforts, the
MWWD was the rst publicly owned wastewater treatment operation in the USA to
receive ISO 14001 Certication from the International Organization for Standardization in
Geneva, Switzerland. This award is a testament
to the departments unwavering respect for the
environment.

Up and running With the combination of

quality equipment, self-sufcient power, strong internal resources
and an ongoing Performance Agreement with Alfa Laval (see sidebar),
downtime is minimized or often eliminated allowing the system to
meet the stringent standards of the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA ).
While internal maintenance personnel do most of the daily maintenance, the Alfa Laval Performance Agreement provides routine
equipment maintenance, technical support and onsite training.
The result: a system as dependable as it is striking one thats picture perfect.

Extruded sticks (briquettes) of sludge, covered with gold and mounted on a concrete wall.

14 here november 2003

an international magazine from alfa laval