Engineers at various wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are recognizing the benefits of using thermal mass flow meters to monitor air flow or aeration flow, improve process efficiency, reduce energy costs, and measure digester gas.

The activated sludge process is a common method in waste water treatment, where waste water is treated with aeration flow. Here blower air is pumped and diffused evenly to oxygenate the aeration basins.

The oxygen feeds, or nourishes microorganisms within the basin so the bacteria thrive and consume suspended particulates. At various phases of the process, compressed air is used to oxygenate, clarify, filter, or disinfect. This is why compressed air is one of the largest expenses associated in the wastewater treatment.

By monitoring and controlling air flow with thermal mass flow-meters, the facility not only maintains the proper environment for optimum bacteria growth to accomplish its objective, but it also significantly reduces the energy costs. In fact, some facilities have reduced energy consumption as much as 25%.

After the suspended particles have been consumed by bacteria, the solid matter is subsequently removed, and enters a secondary process. Here, digesters breakdown the waste, creating digester gas which contains methane and carbon dioxide. The gas can be converted to renewable energy. Throughout this process, thermal mass flowmeters are used to measure mass flow. The Sage Meter has an extremely low-end sensitivity which is needed to handle the low flow typical of digester gas.

If you’d like more information on using gas mass flow meters for wastewater treatment download Wastewater Treatment.