With an aging ozone treatment system in need of replacement at Water Treatment Plant 8, Palm Beach County’s Water Utilities Department selected Globaltech to design a new anion exchange (AIX) system that would work in conjunction with the plant’s existing 10 mgd fixed bed AIX system. Combined, the two systems would be capable of treating 30 million gallons a day for color and total organic carbon (TOC) removal. This process greatly reduces the chance for disinfection byproducts to form in the treated water.

To create enough space for the new system and its construction, Globaltech modified the original design concept developed by others, locating the new equipment on newly purchased land in the northeast corner of the property.

The new anion exchange system included modifications to the existing transfer pumps, salt storage, associated electrical and instrumentation, and site and drainage improvements.

Project Achievements / Benefits

• Final design —including permitting with six different regulatory agencies—completed within 315 days
• Design-driven savings through the re-use of a 1.25 million gallon ground storage tank, slated for demolition, to serve as a brine waste holding tank
• The significantly larger brine waste tank vastly improved plant operations to regenerate several AIX vessels in a day
• System cost savings through the use of shorter AIX vessels
• Incorporation of air spurge system for improved cleaning capability
• Incorporation of 4-log virus treatment downstream of the AIX vessels for enhanced compliance of disinfection rules