Cost: $4.5 million
Location: Morenci, Ariz.
Year: 2018-12-01
Size: 347 gpm
Owner: Freeport-McMoRan Morenci
Designers: Evoqua Water Technologies
Contractor: Evoqua Water Technologies
The Freeport-McMoRan Morenci mine is the largest copper mine in North America. The mine services own, maintain and operate the wastewater treatment plant for Morenci, Ariz.; Clifton, Ariz.; and the site itself. The original treatment facility was constructed in 1950, and as the population of Morenci and Clifton grew, the plant was challenged to handle the treatment flow.
The officials of the copper mine needed to expand the mining operation onto and beyond the existing treatment plant site. This development required establishing a new site for the wastewater treatment facility and designing and then building a new facility.
A pre-engineered field-erected packaged concentric ring wastewater treatment system was designed and installed as part of the new plant near the Freeport-McMoRan Mine Site in Morenci. The plant is located south of the operating mine site on Corral Road.
The project specification identified major components of the system and established minimum performance, quality, control and monitoring standards for each component. The equipment (biological process) supplier was responsible for providing and installing equipment, materials, control systems and components required for a complete and functional system that meets the performance requirements specification. The system primarily will be comprised of coated welded steel tanks and shall be field-erected by the seller. The field erection will include installation of the tanks, stairs, walkways, grating and handrail, clarifier and its equipment, internal tank piping, pumps, mixers, aeration, instrumentation, and electrical systems.
The design, equipment supply, and construction was on a narrow time frame. The project schedule allowed one year for equipment delivery, construction and commissioning. Three weeks after the bid, the Freeport-McMoRan project manager contacted Evoqua brand Davco and suggested that the schedule be shortened by five months. The original schedule allowed one year for construction and final commissioning of the new wastewater treatment facility.
“It wasn’t just trimming the weeks off, when you take five months off a schedule. We were definitely looking for every opportunity throughout the project just to save time everywhere we can,” said Chris Redford, facility and project owner and project manager.