The slaker room of the lime silo was accessed by climbing a rather wobbly 5m ladder.  Perhaps when this was built it was intended to allow for periodic maintenance but  it had become necessary for operations personnel to have to climb the ladder many times throughout a shift, day and night.

Existing Access Ladder to Lime Silo Slaker Room

As is typical of most jobs that Syngineering gets called to, there were plenty of constraints to work within.  The existing silo structure could not be used to support the stairway and the base of the silo formed a bund.  The remote location and ongoing operation of the facility also meant that the stairway would need to be pre-fabricated and installed with minimal disruption to operations.   Detailed drawings of the silo structure were not available and there were also underground services that made avoiding any excavation appealing.  In fact this was not the first time the client (the operators of the plant)  had tried to solve the problem but previous proposals had come back as to expensive and were not supported to by plants owner.

We got thinking and proposed that the stairway commence on a neighboring concrete slab.  This reduced the overall height of the elevation.  We did some calculations to check our idea could comply with AS1657 and then quickly sketched up our concept and shared it with the client to ensure the direction we were proposing would be acceptable.

Proposed Stairway Concept

The client agreed our concept was both feasible and practical and their client in-turn was satisfied that we had proposed an economical solutions.

In order to ensure minimal need for onsite modifications during installation a survey including a 3D scan was undertaken.  Once the stairway design was detailed and presented to the client for review and comment it was then able to quickly move to fabrication.

Since ease and speed of installation were considered right from the start, disruption to operations was minimized and could take place during normal operation of the plant. The stairs were installed in under two days, with lost access to the lime silo less than 24 hours.

Completed Stairway

This addition compliments our electrical installation and electrical drafting team greatly. It gives us presence and confidence when dealing with a variety of different electrical & control projects, including:

• Project management of control system projects
• PLC design
• SCADA
• DCS design
• Machine safety systems
• Safety instrumented systems
• Radio telemetry/RTU system design
• Routine plant maintenance
• Preventative maintenance

In many cases this RO reject is stored in holding ponds to evaporate.  However with a VSEP system it is possible to continue to treat the RO reject water.  The images below show the RO reject used as feed water input into the VSEP and the filtrate output from the VSEP.

Before – RO Reject		After – Crystal Clear Filtrate

At Syngineering, we  have performed lifting beam certification jobs for various companies across the country  in the following industries:

• Manufacturing,
• Government,
• Mining,
• Water treatment,
• Construction and
• Coal Seam Gas.

So if you’ve got a lifting device with no documentation, get one of our engineers to come and take a look at it. We will make sure it is safe. Our RPEQ certification can get your operation back on track quickly.

We can provide you the certification of safety which will give you peace of mind when it comes to equipment safety inspections or applying for those big jobs at large companies. Everything is easier with RPEQ certification.

The engineers at Syngineering have worked on the tools before, most having a tradesman background so they will be easy to deal and properly understand what needs to be done. That is why our team of experienced engineers are the most capable and committed and will go out of their way to make it as easy as possible for you.

To find out more about RPEQ certification for your next project, or certification to Australian Standards within your own workshop, please give the team at Syngineering a call on 1300 662 326 to discuss the details.

The experienced drafters at Syngineering work with these CAD softwares on a daily basis. Our draftsmen come with tradesman experience, so they have worked on the tools and have the practical know-how when it comes to understanding what the client wants and doing the job properly.

Our drafters are able experienced in the following types of drawings:

• Single Line Diagrams
• Three Line Diagrams
• Control and Distribution Diagrams
• Wiring Arm Diagrams
• Field Termination
• Gear Tray Layout Diagrams
• Panel Layout Diagrams
• Process and Instrumentation Diagrams

With Syngineering you will be able to receive top quality drawings produced by experienced drafters all done in house, on time and within budget. Or, if you just temporarily require a drafter and would prefer to contract one out, Syngineering can provide you with that opportunity at a reasonable rate.

Inquire for more details by calling 1300 662 326.

The treated water was only to be discharged into the sewer, so a nano-filtration (NF) system was tested and proved capable at producing permeate with less BOD, arsenic and ammonia to meet the standards.

One 84″ VSEP module was installed and able to extract 80% of the leachate as filtrate and the remaining 20% returned to the landfill as concentrate.

The location of the site experiences large amounts of rainfall and during these times the leachate is more dilute and meets the discharge requirements without treatment. Therefore the VSEP system does not need to be operated all year. The VSEP system is able to process 190 cubic metres of leachate, which is higher than other VSEP systems, but due to the more permeable NF membrane opposed to the tighter RO membrane, it produces less clean permeate.

Limitations with the NF membrane are that it doesn’t process salts and ammonia well, but is still capable of cleaning solids, biological material, hardness, bacteria and other large species. The convenience is that if necessary, the NF system can be swapped with the RO system at any time.

Many landfills in America discharge wastewater to sewer systems, but as sewage treatment facilities reach maximum capacity this will become an issue and alternatives will be needed.  VSEP systems are one solution to reduce wastewater or at least minimise the amount of contaminants in wastewater.

Using VSEP systems you can mix and match or use them in parallel to obtain the desired flow rates needed.  The El Inga Landfill used 3 of the 84″ VSEP modules and each has up to 130 square metres of membrane and can filter between 35 and 70 litres of wastewater per minute.  It also uses a spiral RO system to more finely filter the filtrate for discharge.  This system has been tested to recover 90% of leachate as clean filtrate.

The El Inga Landfill now uses a working wastewater treatment system, which will help with reducing the sites environmental risk in Quito.

The owners of Cerro Patacon implemented a full-scale VSEP system which uses two of the large 84″ VSEP modules.  The discharge was to be released into the river as well as being used as industrial water, so it was required to be cycled through twice.   The discharged filtrate needed to contain TDS less than 1500 mg/L and chemical oxygen demand less than 250 mg/L.

The ponds are downhill from the landfill and therefore use gravity to flow the leachate from the storage place to storage place instead of pumps.  The VSEP was set up after the second pond as the third pond was treated and is now to be used as a treated water collection pond for leachate from the other two ponds.

Leachate flows to the VSEP RO modules before the permeate passes through the spiral RO system and is finally deposited into pond 3 where it is to be used for industrial purposes or discharged into the stream.

VSEP filtration is able to remove up to 95% of the TDS and heavy metals, it also is able to remove all bacteria and faecal matter.  An additional benefit from using VSEP is that it can extend the life of a landfill and becomes less expensive and intrusive to the environment than having to construct another landfill.

The landfill owners have now decided to use a VSEP system, which they heard of through the success of the larger Quito Landfill site nearby.  They were able to hire a manual VSEP system to use temporarily while waiting for the automatic one to be fabricated.

The system in place uses one 84″ VSEP module and a second stage spiral RO system.  A single cycle through this process provides water clean enough to be discharged into the river system.  Leachate can be extracted from any of the four ponds and using a cascading treatment system allows higher recovery, larger flow rates and less VSEP cleaning.

The process involves pumping water from the subsurface of a chosen a pond, which leads to a small EQ/batch tank that feeds the VSEP system.  Permeate from the VSEP is then collected in another tank for the spiral RO system and the final permeate is then used for the landfill, VSEP cleaning or discharged into the river.

The system in place is able to remove up to 95% of the TDS, 98% of heavy metals and 100% of faecal matter and bacteria.  The purpose of VSEP is to reduce leachate volume to allow for storage for landfill leachate and obtain more use out of the current landfill site. This method reduces costs and environment impact from building additional landfills.

New advances in membrane technology have led to increased capabilities in filtration techniques, especially to do with applications involving wastewater and other environments involving processing harsh water products.  For example; there are nano-filtration membranes being implemented that are able to withstand extreme temperatures and pH ranges.

New Logic Research’s VSEP modules come in a variety of sizes and configurations. The membranes are attached to a steel tray and stacked in an array, much like a traditional plate and frame configuration.

Membranes are films that allow smaller objects to pass through while rejecting the larger ones. So, any supply stream flowing through a membrane system such as a VSEP will be split into two. The cleaner stream with fewer objects is known as the permeate and the dirtier stream with higher solid particle density is called the concentrate.

Depending on the application and what the required output is, the concentrate can either be the desirable material (in product recovery), or it can be unwanted (wastewater treatment).

There are four basic categories of membranes used and characterized as followed:

Micro-filtration (0.1µ – 2.0µ)

Are made from PTFE (Teflon®) and are used to remove small suspended solids, large colloidal material, some emulsions and most bacteria.  They are unable to filter out any dissolved solids. The membranes are useful for dewatering slurries such as titanium dioxide and calcium carbonate.

The Teflon membrane are the most durable of all membranes used in VSEP modules and can withstand temperatures up to 130 degrees, pressure between 200-690 kPa and a pH range from 0-14.

Ultra-filtration (0.008µ – 0.1µ)

These membranes are used in most applications where filtration is required to only filter out all suspended solids.  They will remove large organics such as proteins, pyrogens, bacteria and colloids and can break emulsions without the need for chemicals.

Ultra-filtraton can be used as the primary treatment where incredibly dirty wastewater is being recycled using a secondary reverse osmosis membrane system. The ultra-filtration membranes are made from PVBDF (Kynar®) and generated cellulose. The membrane operates between 200 and 1,720 kPa, temperatures up to 90 degrees and a pH range of 1-14.

Nano-filtration (0.001µ – 0.01µ)

This is the newest membrane produced by New Logic Research in VSEP modules. They are semi permeable and made from materials such as sulfonated sulfone, polyamides and other thin film composites. They are usually used to remove organics and many dissolved materials such as hardness and are seen implemented in wastewater treatment to remove Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD).

Nano-filtration systems can be used as a pre-treatment for a reverse osmosis system or spiral RO system.  The system can operate at pressures from 1,380-4,130 kPa and withstand a pH range from 1-14

Reverse Osmosis (30 daltons – 0.001µ)

It is the finest filtration system available from New Logic Research and it has the ability to filter dissolved solids such as sodium chloride. Due to its capabilities, it is used in applications involving desalination plants for seawater and is able to reject 99.5% Na-Cl.

RO membranes are often used to remove organics, trace oil and trace metals in a single cycle process. RO membranes have not been considered effective in an industrial application due to high probabilities with fouling, but VSEP’s vibrational feature reduces the risk of fouling. This has enabled membrane technology to be useful with filtration applications where removal of low molecular weight contaminants from a wastewater stream is desired.

RO membranes are more or less constructed of propriety thin film composites.  These membranes operate at 2,070 – 6,900 kPa and can tolerate a pH range of 2-12.

Landfill Leachate systems are in place because of the design of the landfill.  Landfills are designed to be like a shell, containing garbage by using a liner on the bottom made from High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) on top of compacted clay, geo-fabrics and other layers to prevent seepage into the ground and an upper HDPE layer on top to prevent additional water from entering the landfill and adding to the leachate and water contamination.  This non-permeable lining on the bottom causes a build-up of sewage from moisture (leachate), which is accumulated from trash products and rainwater.  Leachate is a liquid which builds up solutes and solid particles from passing through matter.  The problem we face with leachate is that the water settling on the bottom of the site increases hydraulic pressure on the liner and may tear the plastic lining causing leakage into the ground below and contaminating the ground water.  The waste water needs to be removed to prevent these leaks from forming.  Leachate removal systems provide us with a method of extracting the liquid and removing excess water from the site.

A leachate pond is set up near the site to collect contaminated water that can be tested and treated.  Most current processes to treat the water are slow and dependent on specific variables; biological treatment for example is affected by high heavy metal content.  VSEP (Vibratory Shear Enhanced Process) is a patented method by New Logic Research which is effective at removing contaminants from landfill waste water.  The VSEP filtration method works in a similar way to reverse osmosis (RO), using a vibrating membrane to filter minute solids.  Historically RO has not  been considered a very effective method of treatment until recent years where membrane technology has evolved to become much more versatile and capable on an industrial scale.

VSEP processes are simple and cost effective, not requiring the assistance from additional chemicals and each filtration device can process hundreds to thousands of litres of waste water every day.

Leachate and Groundwater applications the VSEP can be used for are:

• Acid mine drain
• Phosphate Cooling Pond Water
• Radioactive Groundwater
• Arsenic Removal
• Landfill Leachate
• Agricultural Run-off
• Produced Water from Oil Drilling

A full-scale VSEP system was installed implementing three of the 84″ VSEP modules. This system did not require the second stage spiral RO system as the filtrate is only to be used for irrigation and the first stage removal of ammonia, chemical oxygen demand and other contaminants is sufficient.

Out of the six leachate ponds, the VSEP system is set up 600m from the main pond where the leachate from the landfill is deposited. The leachate is pumped to the VSEP modules and taken away for irrigation to the nearby sagebrush areas. The concentrate is then collected in already used ponds.

The goal for the system is to reduce the leachate volume in each pond and then use them as storage sites for the concentrate produced through the VSEP process. The process is able to extract 150 cubic metres of filtrate each day and eventually plans are in place to double this value.

Through using VSEP, the landfill has been able to extend operations by approximately 20 more years, which will work out to be more cost effective than having to build an entire new landfill and leachate ponds.

• Centrifuges
• Clarifiers
• Evaporators
• Rotary Drum Vacuum Filters
• Pressure Filters

There is also a very cost effective alternative in the VSEP system.  VSEP offers the follwwing benefits:

1. High flux rates

In the separation of most products the VSEP’s rate averages ten time higher that of conventional separation technologies. The high flux rates from a VSEP means more throughput for your investment.

2. Fouling resistance

The patentend vibrating membane means less membrane replacement and less downtime for maintenance.

3. High Solids

Because VSEP does not depend on crossflow to create shear it can filter to a very high level of solids.  Achieving more solids in a single pass simplifies processing.

4. High Efficiency

VSEP has a useful energy conversion of 99%.  This is achieved through the ultra efficient resonating drive system that focuses the shear waves on the membranes themselves. Virtually all of the energy from the drive motor is dissipated as shear on the face of the membrane.  This lowers operating expenses

5. Engineering dependability

The engineering design of the VSEP with minimal moving parts means it is robust, eliminating costly downtime.

6. Compact Design

The compact design of a VSEP with its vertically oriented membrane stack requires 10 to 100 times less floor space t than conventional systems.  A single Series I system producing up to 750 litres per minute only needs two square meters of floor space.

7. Convenient Testing

Each VSEP system is tailored to the specific client application.  Data already exists for a wide variety of applications and where it does not then testing is performed to ensure the optimum performance of the VSEP.  Testing allows for the selection of the appropriate membrane type by determining the optimum membrane material and pore size.   Amplitude, temperature and pressure are also tuned to determine the optimum operating parameters.

8. Low Cost

The aforementioned beneits all equate to a lower overall cost.

• high flux rates allow more throughput capacity
• fouling resistance means less membrane replacement and less cleaning and maintenance
• high solids in a single pass simplifies processing
• high efficiency lowers operating expenses
• engineered dependability eliminates costly downtime
• compact design means savings on installation, space requirements and plant design

It works the same as many other filtration systems in that a pressure is used to force a fluid through a filter.  The filter catches the contaminants as the fluid passes through and the fluid downstream of the filter is clean, or at least “cleaner”.  Since the filter is collecting the contaminants it typically require routine cleaning or replacing, This is what differentiates the VSEP system.

The patented technology in the VSEP system is the use of vibrating membranes.  These membranes, which come in different varieties depending on the particle size to be filtered out, are where the filtration takes place.  An oscillation is introduced that prevents colloidal fouling, or basically the clogging up of gunk on the filter.  The introduced vibration achieves this by preventing the matter being filtered from the liquid from settling on the membrane and blocking the pores that allow the filtrate to pass through.

The vibration is introduced by a resonating spring drive system.  It works on the principle of a motor with an eccentric weight on its drive shaft that attached to the plate, causing the plate to shake.  The filter pack is attached to the same plate and the movement of the plate is transferred to the filter pack, causing the membrane to oscillate.

A VSEP system has been installed at the landfill, which utilises reverse osmosis (RO) through a vibrating membrane. The VSEP installed is automated with a 0.91m VSEP module and has roughly 42 square metres of membrane area. The leachate is pumped from the leachate storage pond to a tank before it passes through the VSEP system. This system recovers 80% of the waste water leachate.

Due to the high vibrations, there is limited fouling on the membrane, which allows for high flow rates even when dealing with concentrated wastewater.  VSEP is capable of working with raw wastewater with no pre-treatment and has a very small environment footprint and low operating cost.

After the VSEP stage the filtered water goes through a standard spiral RO membrane system to reduce water contaminant levels below the discharge requirement. This double filtration process is able to output water that is far cleaner than any other treatment method currently available.  The rejected concentrate can then be disposed of appropriately

The two stage process can reduce chemical oxygen demand from 10,000 mg/L to 17 mg/L and the total dissolved solids (TDS) in the leachate from 26,000 mg/L to 55 mg/L.

Leachate from landfills may be pumped into sewage systems but some waste may contain recalcitrant organics (pesticides).  It can also be reinjected into the landfill, but none of those methods are as capable as RO at treating water and no RO systems are as effective as a VSEP system.

The images above have been copied from the VSEP case study for El Bordo Poniente

One of the benefits of a VSEP system is its ability to process raw water that varies widely in quality.  This means that the concentrate can be reblended back into the raw water and continue to be recirculated so long as it is still possible to be pumped.

Modern waste management facilities are designed with some form or impermeable lining as a means of keeping the landfill and  resulting hazardous landfill leachate separated from the surrounding environment.   The landfill leachate can then be drained away and collected in ponds so it can be disposed with in an environmentally safe way.

Prior to disposal of the contaminated leachate there are compelling environmental and commercial drivers to extract the largest possible volume of water.   Separating out clean reusable water not only means the recovered clean water (permeate/filtrate) can be used  for productive purposes (such as agriculture or dust suppression) but it also minimises the volume of concentrate that needs to be disposed of.   The Vibratory Shear Enhanced Process (VSEP) system presented in the following video is a cost effective means of separating the maximum possible volume of water.

• Processing thousands of litres per minute
• Has the ability to stay cleaner for longer
• Can process constituents with a large solid percentage (~70%)
• Has a high efficiency (~99%)
• Simple design (two main parts), and
• Compact in size.

To download a copy of our VSEP pamphlet click here 

The job was completed on time and within budget, designed in house by our team of qualified engineers and was RPEQ certified by Syngineering. RPEQ certification takes the headaches out of your life, especially if the site’s foreman asks for the documentation stating that your plant has certification.

Here at Syngineering, we conduct all our designs for access stairways using the AS 1657-2013 standard, and place our certification tag on the design to assure you that the product we design passes all standards, and is safe.

Below are two images of the access stairway illustrating the final product (left) and its engineering certification (right).

To view more photos of the product and its features, you can go to the Access Innovations website and click on the “Workshop Access” link

The tank designs we offer include:

1. Frac Tanks
2. Frac Storage Tanks
3. Frac Storage or Open Top Storage Tanks with Handrails
4. Frac Storage or Open Top Frac Flow Back Tanks including Diffuser Tanks

Our team at Syngineering provides the project management expertise to ensure that your tanks are supplied when they’re promised. We utilise project quality planning during the design and manufacture of the tanks, and we provide inspection services during manufacture so you avoid any headaches down the line.