Wastewater Treatment Plants
Process Benchmarking of wastewater treatment plants has been performed since 1996. More than 200 different wastewater treatment plants, ranging from 1,000 PT to some million PT have been participating in one or several project rounds. In 2007 more than 70 wastewater treatment plants of approximate 50 different operators have joined the project and some of them joined on several occasions.
Object of investigation
Within the product ”Process Benchmarking of wastewater treatment plants“, several aspects of the technology, the elimination efficiency and the economy of the treatment plants are focused. The economical valuation is based on expenses covering operating expenditure, assignment of personnel and energy consumption.
The intensive comparison of the wastewater treatment plants delivers, depending on the focused benchmarking-aims of the participant, the following results:
- The determination of the position of the own wastewater treatment plant compared with the others
- Identification of room for improvement
- Elaboration of an action plan
- Optimized operation of the plant concerning economy and treatment efficiency
Method
The processing of the project is based on the reliable benchmarking steps according to the recommendation of the German Water Association (DWA). Depending on the aspired benchmarking-aims of your company, the data acquisition
- is based on the whole-plant-level (Basis-Module) or
- is based on sub-process-level (Standard-Module).
Comparability
Long term experiences with the process-benchmarking of wastewater treatment plants have shown that the different kinds of wastewater treatment plants can be compared within the benchmarking process. The comparison is possible because the data acquisition is based on a sub-process-concept, which is worked out by the aquabench company and operators of wastewater treatment plants, which joined the project. The following figure shows an extract of the sub-process-scheme.
Figure: Extract of the sub-process-scheme
Results
Based on the input values different performance indicators are calculated, which are required for the determination of the position of the own wastewater treatment plant and the identification of room for improvement. Figures, containing these performance indicators, are presented and discussed in workshops. Beside the presentation of the results during these workshops there is enough time for experience-exchange between the participants.
Because of the fact that the data acquisition and the calculation of the performance indicators take place on the internet platform of the aquabench GmbH it is also possible for the participants to generate figures and charts of performance indicators.
Actual product rounds - survey year 2008
The aquabench company offers following projects for process-benchmarking of wastewater treatment plants:
Projects of the Basis-Module (data acquisition: whole-plant-level):
| Name Project | Start of data acquisition |
| European Process Benchmarking for WWTP, German and European wastewater treatment plants with a capacity of more than 50,000 PT (Project-language: English) | 2nd quarter of 2009 for survey year 2008 |
Projects of the Standard-Module (data acquisition: sub-process-level):
| Name Project | Start of data acquisition |
| „German speaking Standard-Module“ - wastewater treatment plants from German speaking countries | February 2009 |
| „Rheinland-Pfalz“ - wastewater treatment plants from Rheinland-Pfalz | May 2009 |
| wastewater treatment plants from the chemical industry from German speaking countries | January 2009 |
| „DWA-Nord“ - wastewater treatment plants from Niedersachsen and Schleswig-Holstein | February 2009 |
Team Process Benchmarking wastewater treatment plants:
| Name | Phone | |
| Eva Wortmann | e.wortmann(at)aquabench.de | 49 (0)2203 - 359 29 – 24 |
| Stefan Grinwis | s.grinwis(at)aquabench.de | 49 (0)2203 - 359 29 – 19 |
| Patrick Meyer zu Berstenhorst | p.mzb(at)aquabench.de | 49 (0)2203 - 359 29 – 13 |
Reference Customers for the Process Benchmarking wastewater treatment plants:
| Company / Name | Phone | |
| Amperverband - Kopmann, Thilo | kopmann(at)amperverband.de | 49 (0)8141 - 731-37 |
| Wupperverband - Erbe, Volker Dr. | erb(at)wupperverband.de | 49 (0)202 - 583-285 |
| Stadtentwässerung Hannover - von Roden, Helmut | helmut.vonroden(at)hannover-stadt.de | 49 (0)511 - 168-47340 |
| Kasseler Entwässerungsbetrieb | lotze.m(at)ks-keb.de | 49 (0)0561 - 987 6412 |
