2023-11-07 CC Agenda - PRESENTATION - Environmental Committee Tour - HyperionEl Segundo Environmental
Committee Tour of the Hyperion
Water Reclamation Plant
October 30, 2023
This is the tour group, standing in front of
one of the new "egg shaped" digesters.
The tour was hosted by Hi -Sang Kim and
Tim Dafeta from the Hyperion staff.. _
Professor Michael Stenstrom of UCLA - I
accompanied the tour.
The tour started about 9 AM in the
Learning Center. The Learning Center is
set up to educate all level of visitors
from school kids to college students and
engineers. The first hour or so of the
tour was spent here with Hi -Sang and
Tim explaining the treatment processes
and upcoming improvements to turn
Hyperion into a full water reclamation
plant.
The discussion and questions
concentrated on the headworks and
primary treatment parts of the plant,
where odors need to be controlled.
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INSIDE A WASTEWATER TREAOrMENT PLANT
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The circular
structure at the
back is the same
size as the larger
influent pipes to
Hyperion
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The tour started as a walking tour from the Learning Center and ended up driving up to
the eastern edge of the plant, nearest El Segundo. The group walked by the primary
clarifiers first, then to the head works, but the slides will be shown in the order of the
flows through the plant. This is a sketch showing flows.
The tour included the bar screens to the primary clarifiers and then we boarded a van
to drive to the plant's eastern boundary. The tour did not go to the aeration tanks
and downstream processes (these processes generally do not produce odor) .
Here we see one of the bar screens. There are 8
parallel screens. The recommendations of the
committee report included several
improvements for monitoring in order to detect
problems early before they cause damage or
flooding.
Alarms in the building and video monitoring
equipment have been installed. The digital
control system was under construction during
the time of the flood and it will be completed
soon.
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This slide shows the back
of the bar screens. They
are covered to reduce
odors. During the worst of
the flood, screenings`
covered the floor you see t ;
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and it was approximately 2
ft underwater.
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Bar screens are high -
wear devices and
require frequent
maintenance and
rebuilding. Here is one
of the screens being
rebuilt. It has been
removed for access
and you can see the
notches that hold the
ba rs.
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This is one of our
tour group
inspecting the
screenings flume. In
the back ground, on
the wa I I you can see
one of the new
video cameras
(white band in the
middle) . This is a
critical point to
transport screening
out of the building
and a failure of the
type in 2021 could
be seen here.
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This slide shows one area of
the primary clarifier covers.
They are partially covered
with removable panels and
partially with fixed concrete
covers. Primary clarifiers
always have movable parts
which require routine
maintenance and therefore
access. The primary
clarifiers are operated
under a partial vacuum so
that odorous gases can be
sucked through the large
pipes to an odor control
facility.
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Here is a detail
of the odorous
gas piping. It
extends
around the
plant. Buildings
that have odor
producing
processes are
always sealed
up and
connected to
odor control
piping.
The yellow
hand rails
protect an
opening to the
primary
clarifiers for
maintenance.
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Areas that are opened for
maintenance should
always be covered. This
protects the vacuum for
the other parts of the
plant. Here we see tarps
used for temporary cover.
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This slide shows the covers for the
third and fourth batteries of
primary clarifiers. The green hill
on the right is the plant's border
with the City of El Segundo. The
removable aluminum covers lie flat
on the deck. They are always
removable at treatment plants to
allow maintenance. The white
pipes are to transport foul air.
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This is a blow up of the
covers. They are usually
2 to 3 ft wide and up to
20 ft long, depending on
the plant. They need to
be sealed at the edges to
preserve vacuum.
Corrosion is a big problem
in primary clarifiers. The
next slide shows covers that
have been removed and will
be recycled
The odorous gases are transported to odor
control towers. Here the gas is contacted
with water containing chemicals that reactor
with the odors to remove them. There are
also towers that use activated carbon.
Newer towers are using biomass to oxidize
the odors.
Odor control is a continuing area of research.
Hydrogen sulfide is the primary odor
producing chemical but plants are
discovering that after the hydrogen sulfide is
removed there are still detectable odors.
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Here are the old covers,
piled up to be recycled.
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This is a view,
looking west,
from the east
side of the plant - AR
that boarders
the City of El
Segundo.
It gives you a
feeling for the
size of the
plant, which is
approximately
145 acres.
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The towers are filled with
packing that promotes
contact between the
gases and liquid. Packing
takes different forms and
shapes.
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This is a view of the new 1-12S monitoring station.
There is an older monitoring station for weather
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There were several questions that were discussed with
the group at this time. One question is why to the
odors seem to be greater at night? LA San staff replied
that the wind directions change at night.
A comment I can make relates to the odor producing
potential of the wastewater. The time of travel from
homes and industries to the treatment plant is greater
at night due to the lower flow rates. This provides
more time to odors to be produced. Also people
usually work away from their homes so they are not
there during the day to observer odors.
I am hoping that we can correlate odor complaint and
time of day to better understand their sources and
how to reduce them.