Process
Integration
Sometimes the most effective water treatment system requires joining equipment from different vendors into a process train. For instance, in wastewater treatment, it may be advantageous to have separate biological, solids separation, and disinfection processes to meet the specific discharge permit requirements, or agency preferences, or to augment existing processes. Also, it is often necessary to provide ancillary pumps, storage tanks, and instruments to complete the process train.
Integrating processes from different vendors requires understanding their flow dynamics. Filters, for instance, often operate in a batch mode and have backwash periods where the flow will be reduced or stopped. Biological and disinfection processes are typically continuous, so it may be necessary to add intermediate tanks and pumps to integrate these into a smooth process train.
Vendor supplied treatment processes typically are furnished with their own control system, operator interface, and historical data storage. In addition, external pumps, valves, and tanks may need to be monitored and controlled. ECMC has the experience to provide the automation design services to allow vendors and system integrators to create a unified control system, bringing all the critical data into one master control for monitoring and storage, and allowing sub-processes to coordinate operations.