A group of 40 Chinese delegates consisting of regulators, business leaders and engineers visited several U.S. cities after WEFTEC.10, including Chicago. The delegation’s goal was to identify U.S. technology partners and to purchase products and equipment.
One of the plants visited was the Village of Algonquin (Ill.) Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF). The 5-million gal per day plant serves approximately 30,500 residents in the northwest Chicago suburb. Siemens Water Technologies has an extensive line of equipment at the plant, including Envirex bar screens at the headworks, four Envirex rectangular primary clarifiers, a Siemens heater heat exchanger, two Dystor methane gas holders and several Tow-Bro circular clarifiers.
Tom Mangione, technical sales manager for anaerobic digestion products at Siemens, coordinated the tour with colleagues Samson Moy and Yun Lei acting as tour translators. All three work out of Siemens’ Wauskesha, Wis., office.
Andrew Warmus, utilities superintendent at the Algonquin WWTF, said that it was an honor for his team’s plant to have been chosen to represent the Chicago area and that their experience with the delegation was great. The delegates were curious about every aspect of the facility and its operation, but their primary focus was on biosolids treatment. Many questions were asked about digester type, capacity, removal efficiency, capital cost and biogas reuse.
“We were a little concerned that language could be somewhat of a barrier,” said Warmus. “But the Siemens staff, acting as technical translators, really helped to bridge any language problem and help the Chinese understand our operational design and philosophies.”
Source: Siemens
