The $71 million design-build Phase 2 Nitrogen Removal Improvements project at the Hopewell Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility is now in commissioning with full startup scheduled for this spring. Current work includes process checks for all equipment, including the DAF units, polymer system, recycle pumps, multi-stage and single-stage blowers, Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) screens and grids, instrumentation in each area and electrical equipment. Over the next few weeks, the vertical turbine pumps, grinder pumps, phosphorous feed and hypo pumps will also be subject to thorough startup checks. By the end of January, equipment vendor checks will be complete and system commissioning checkouts will commence to verify that communications to SCADA and the entire system functions properly as a whole. After the vendor checks, the MBBR basins are filled with plastic media to fill the majority of the basin’s capacity. The tank is an acre footprint and 30 feet tall, requiring thousands of supersacks to be transported from an off-site storage location for loading via tower crane. Once each system completes the commissioning process and the media is loaded, the plant will begin operating with actual wastewater.
PC Construction and design-build partner HDR, began work in October 2014. The project incorporated MBBR technology to provide the most reliable level of treatment for the unique influent flow characteristics processed by the facility. The improvements will result in a reduction of the facility’s nitrogen load and the ability to better manage nutrient credits.