SPS launches ‘drought busting’ DAF in wake of Spelman summit

Phil Black - PII Editor 22/02/2012

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Water treatment specialist Siltbuster Process Solutions Limited (SPS) has launched its new ‘drought busting’ solution, the D100ds DAF system, in the wake of the water summit headed by environment minister Caroline Spelman in February 2012.

Several potential solutions to the problem of water shortages in the East, South East and Midlands were tabled at the meeting (including the piping of water from different regions) However, in the short-term the only viable option for augmenting water supplies is additional extraction from rivers, lakes and other surface water features not currently used as water sources.

“Traditionally, emergency abstraction from these sources has been hampered by the need to deploy additional equipment to cope with the high suspended solids and algal concentrations found in these sources during the summer months. Anecdotally, we know of one company that spent £100,000 over three months in 1976, deploying an emergency treatment system only to bring the plant online after the weather had broken. That is where the SPS D100ds system comes in,” comments SPS’s managing director Dr Richard Coulton.

Based on SPS’s proven D100 dissolved air flotation (DAF) system, the D100ds comprises a portable solution designed to provide clients with an emergency water treatment within days rather than weeks or months. Each component is the size of a 6 metre shipping container and can be delivered to site and offloaded into position by a Hiab lorry.

Based on conventional potable water treatment technology, the D100ds is a rapidly deployable three-module system comprising; a containerised chemical storage and dosing system; stirred coagulant; flocculant addition and conditioning tanks, together with a D100 DAF unit. Depending on the characteristics of the water, the system can process between two and four mega litres of water per day.

Dr Richard Coulton said: “We know from experience that using a DAF is the preferred treatment option for removing algae and that the emergency deployment of traditional DAF systems is both time consuming and expensive. This is why we have launched this D100ds system.

“With the spectre of drought no longer just a possibility for the South and East, we are confident that the strategic deployment of our mobile DAF units will play an important role to help augment the UK’s dwindling water supplies.”

To find out more about the new D100ds DAF, contact SPS on 01600 772 256.