Eng-Tips is the largest engineering community on the Internet

Intelligent Work Forums for Engineering Professionals

  • Congratulations waross on being selected by the Tek-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

Oil / Water separators (Stormceptor) 2

Status
Not open for further replies.

Civilertw

Civil/Environmental
Nov 5, 2002
2
0
0
CA
I am currently working on a project involving oil / water seperators such as Stormceptor. I have a large amount of company supplied data, but I can't seem to find any journals or periodicals on the use of similar products. If anyone knows of any, please help me out.
 
Replies continue below

Recommended for you

Hi,
There is a lot of interest in Seattle area in these type of treatment BMPs, but still not much perfomance data that is independent of the manufacturers. If you are interested in the actual performance, you should pay attention to the testing protocols used. Some manufacturers create their own "stormwater" by mixing dirt & tap water, so they can then test their products in the lab. This approach is inconclusive since real stormwater is variable in its sediment & pollutant loading. Specifically, the fine sediments loading to a treatment device will vary depending on the soil types, land uses, erosion control measures employed in the basin, etc. Most of the "compact" treatment devices have a very limited capability to remove fine sediments. In the Pacific Northwest, this can be a problem because one of the concerns is fine sediments that can settle and damage fish habitat.

Engineering judgment is required if you are designing a system that will achieve a certain removal effectiveness.

For more information, you can check out:


Then go to RESEARCH, then to the report called:

Technology Review:
Ultra-Urban Stormwater Treatment Technologies
 
Look at another device called a stormwater treatment unit manufactured by Vortechnics.
I recently installed one at a Port in the State of Washington. I used the model 5000 with a capacity of 6.5 to 8 CFS with a weir overflow around the unit when flow reaches 6.5 CFS.

The unit is approved by Ecology in Washington.

I do not believe that there is much publised about these units. I do not like the StormCeptor units. The Vortechnics unit is more like an API separator with a sedimentation chamber on the inlet and seems to work better.
 
If you look for the following program, you will find papers on both Stormceptor and Vortechnics.

· Technology Assessment Report prepared for The Massachusetts Strategic Envirotechnology Partnership (STEP)

 
To select one of the products above you need to know what amount of water quality you are looking for. If you require an 80% TSS removal, then Stormceptor and Vortechnics are probally your top choices. The CDS product does not give you an 80% TSS removal but does remove the floatables and oil.

I have speced and installed 6 Vortechnics and about 20 Stormceptors in NJ and GA and am happy with both products. They are different designs and prices so it all depends on your specific job site/criteria on which one to choose.

The Stormceptor is like a very deep manhole where the Vortechnics is like a box vault. The Vortechnics is great if you have a high water table where the Stormceptor would have instalation problems. On the Stormceptor side, the cost of the product and instalation is usually slightly cheaper than the Vortechnics and most contractors find it easy to install.

Their are other products out their that clean the water, not many can claim 80% TSS removal and those that can, usually don't have any study information to back up the claim. Stormceptor and Vortechnics are the only two that I personally have seen the data on and have speced for my jobs. The site given above by Scully109 has a great amount of data on the products and may be able to help you in your selection.

As a side note, The state of NJ reviewes all project stormwater at the state level and they only accept two products for water quality treatment, Stormceptor and Vortechnics.
 
I believe the responses about the Washington Department of ecology and New Jersery are incorrect. In Washington the only proprietary BMP currently allowed is the Stormwater Management StormFilter which has qualied for the Interium General Use Designation.

To be accepted in the State of New Jersery, the device needs to be verified by the New Jerser Corporastion for Advanced Technology (NJCAT). To date the only system verified is again the StormFilter.

For more information please visit their websites.
 
This is a big issue for all these techonolgies. I believe they all will work it's just how you size them for sediment loads and flow rates. Some manufacturers try to downsize their competition which looks like it will save your clients money but it's really just not treating the flows and sediment loads. The 2 key things to be aware of with these technologies is what size particle removal % at what flow rate? Many will tell you 80% TSS removal but is that a 150 micron particle or 50 and at what flow rate, when does it go into "bypass"?
All of these technologies have pro's and Con's. Vortechnic's is like the "catalac" of oil/grit separator's but you'll pay for it just as you would the car. I believe there are other companies that can treat similar sediment loads and flow rates at a lesser cost. Stormceptor requires a deep excavation but it's the simpliest of the oil'grit separator's but they have many critic's (rbannerman@dnr.state.wi.us). Aquashield's AquaSwirl has gained recognition for proven preformance and is really moderately priced in comparison to others.
Here is one study that that was completed in Washington State.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top