Building a water treatment plant can be a huge undertaking. With so many factors to consider, there are plenty of opportunities to overlook a critical detail. To ensure that the delivered system performs exactly as expected, it’s important to proceed carefully through each phase of the project, especially during the initial planning and design steps. Here, we’ll dig into some key tools and strategies to ensure that the project moves along as smoothly as possible from concept to construction.

The role of lab studies in planning and design

Long before any construction can begin on a new water treatment plant, the project team will need to carefully plan the project and develop a conceptual design. This may take anywhere from several months to well over a year for large-scale projects. A crucial part of the planning process is gathering information, which can include researching suitable sites, environmental impacts, and permit processes. It also means rounds of meticulous testing and experimentation, such as through feasibility studies, analyzing samples in a lab, or running simulation testing. These and other data-gathering activities are based on the scientific method, and are intended to generate data that is needed to establish and refine the solution design based on reliable evidence obtained through well-designed experiments.

During these early phases of the project, lab studies yield data crucial to the plant design process. Labs provide a controlled environment where process scientists can isolate and investigate individual variables, and validate findings through repeated rounds of experimentation. This ensures that the project team can determine the most effective approach for treating a stream before the project advances to the next phase. Although this process can seem slow and tedious, it is important for uncovering challenges early on to ensure that the project timeline and budget stay on track. Below, we’ve summarized the most common types of lab studies used in the water treatment plant design process.

Raw water and wastewater characterization studies

Raw water and wastewater characterization studies are valuable at the outset of a water treatment plant project. These types of studies are conducted by collecting several samples of raw water, process water or wastewater, then analyzing them in a lab. The samples are typically collected over a period of time to ensure that any variability in the stream makeup is accurately represented. The laboratory analysis identifies exactly what constituents are present in the stream so that water treatment experts can begin to identify appropriate technologies for achieving target water quality parameters.

Laboratory treatability studies

When designing a water treatment plant, engineers can choose from a vast array of water treatment technologies, any of which might be appropriate for achieving treatment or separation goals. Treatability studies assess the feasibility of different treatment methods to help focus the design process on the treatment methods that are best suited for the application at hand. In some cases, this may overlap with a raw water or wastewater characterization study.

The most basic type of treatability study is laboratory screening, where scientists will test samples in a lab setting to investigate whether a technology is valid for treating the raw, process, or wastewater stream in question. At this stage, testing is narrowly focused on identifying possible technologies that might meet the water quality objectives of the project. Consider, for example, a wastewater treatment stream with high organic content. A logical first choice in a plant design would be some form of biological treatment, since it is usually an economical and effective choice for removal of organic contaminants. This choice can be validated by running laboratory treatability studies, which will help to uncover whether any problematic contaminants or process conditions are present that might compromise the performance of a biological treatment system. Data and observations gathered during laboratory screening can help the solution design team rule out certain technologies or look for ways to resolve challenges by incorporating pre- or post-treatment steps into the design.

Bench-scale testing

Once the initial data gathering processes are complete, engineers will draft conceptual designs for the plant, which will identify specific types of water treatment equipment and construction specifications for the facility. At this point, some projects will run bench-scale studies to test out the conceptual design. Bench studies simulate the plant design to evaluate how the proposed technologies might work together as part of a treatment train or identify any aspects that may need to be refined to achieve the desired level of performance. Once a project team is satisfied with the findings of lab testing, the design can be scaled up for pilot testing.

Site-based pilot studies

For all their benefits, lab studies can’t replicate the complexity of a real-world water treatment plant. That’s where pilot studies come in. Pilot systems mimic the conceptual design of a full water treatment plant, but on a smaller scale. They are a useful step on the road to developing an effective water treatment plant, allowing owners to validate and optimize a solution design before investing in a full-scale build. Pilot studies also generate data regarding performance, cost, and design elements that is necessary for the development of a detailed solution design.

Pilot studies are prudent for major projects, and in some cases, they may even be required by the terms of a contract. For example, it is quite common for pilot studies to be required as part of a process performance guarantee. That said, pilot studies can be quite involved, and they tend to carry a moderate to high cost. In order to keep costs as economical as possible, pilot systems are built at a much smaller scale than the full-size plant, they are often

To run a pilot study, water treatment professionals will install the pilot system at the project site and allow it to run for a defined period of time in order to collect samples and data for analysis. Pilot studies help to build upon the information learned in earlier lab-based testing by showing how a full-scale plant might behave in terms of hydraulics and fluid dynamics, interactions between different treatment processes, and the range of water quality parameters that the plant will ultimately need to handle. This can help to demonstrate how the design will respond to the challenges of operating in an actual facility, like fluctuating process conditions, contaminants, or interactions between different treatment technologies that may have been overlooked earlier in the design process. Following completion of the pilot study, engineers will review the collected data and may make changes to the concept to further optimize the plant design.

Detailed engineering & later steps

Once experimentation and analysis are complete, the project team will prepare a formal solution proposal. If the owner accepts the proposal, the water treatment plant project will then move into a detailed engineering phase. During this phase, the project team will develop the solution concept into a deliverable package consisting of building plans, specifications, and diagrams, and functional descriptions, as well as a detailed budget and project timeline. The process of finalizing the solution design is a collaborative effort requiring input from engineers, process specialists, vendors, construction staff, and subject matter experts, among others.

Following acceptance of the detailed design, the project team will source equipment and materials, and then the project will finally enter the construction phase. During this time, workers will rely on specifications contained in the detailed engineering plans to prepare the site, construct buildings, fabricate equipment, and install system components and peripherals—all of which are complex processes that may take months or years to execute. But this is where all the meticulous planning in earlier phases really starts to pay off: by anticipating challenges and finding solutions early in the planning process, the project is insulated from delays and budget overruns as the project proceeds through its later phases.

How can SAMCO help?

SAMCO has over 40 years of experience designing, engineering, and building process separation and wastewater treatment systems. Our service offerings include comprehensive engineering, design, fabrication, and installation services to help you achieve a custom solution for any application—whether it’s building a completely new system or upgrading an existing one. Or, if you’re looking to maintain existing systems, or just meet a temporary challenge, we’ve got you covered as well.

To find out more about any of the engineering, design, lab tests and pilot studies, fabrication, installation, and ongoing support services that SAMCO offers, please feel free to contact us. You can also visit our website to set up a call with an engineer, request a quote, or click on over to our blog to learn more about process purification and separation systems, wastewater treatment systems, industrial water conservation strategies, and more.