WATER ENVIRONMENT ASSOCIATION OF TEXAS
INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT OF THE YEAR AWARD …acknowledges an industrial waste treatment plant in Texas that has consistently exhibited outstanding performance of daily activities beyond the normal call of duty.
Bayport Facility Gulf Coast Authority The Gulf Coast Authority Bayport Facility treats one of the most complex wastewater streams in the United States. Over 70 different industries discharge to the Bayport Facility, including petrochemical facilities, oil terminals, and municipalities. Due to the incredibly diverse variety of its customers, the facility’s influent volume and characteristics can vary wildly from day to day. Still, despite these swings, the Bayport Facility excels at meeting its permit requirements. The Bayport TPDES permit contains over 80 different parameters. Despite these extensive requirements, the Bayport Facility still earned a National Association of Clean Water Agencies Gold Water in 2020, which requires zero permit violations in a calendar year. The Bayport Facility was designed to be a highly resilient system, and is thus able to adjust to the large swings of the influent’s composition. In addition, the Bayport Facility has a staff of highly skilled operators who detect changes in the influent, identify the process impacts, and make operational changes as needed. The maintenance department also serves a critical role in the success of the facility and includes two electricians, three instrumentation techs, and six mechanics. Multiple monitoring points are installed within the system, beginning at the customer tie-ins,
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continuing throughout various points in the facility, and at the facility discharge. Beyond standard process conditions, several wastewater phenomena occur at Bayport for which the operations team must monitor and adjust. The Bayport Facility is under a Title IV air permit, for which emissions are monitored and calculated to identify any potential emission sources in the facility. Pure oxygen is used in the first step of the treatment system and the off-gas is captured and discharged to a regenerative thermal oxidizer. As a result of the Title IV air permit, the Bayport Facility must monitor: air emissions for compliance, oxygen emissions to avoid creating an unsafe environment, and potentially explosive gases being emitted from the first step basin and sent to a thermal oxidizer. These requirements have created an intricate operational system, which in turn requires a sophisticated controls system. In addition to the manual monitoring, many online analyzers are in place with interlocks to shut down or divert gases, prior to an unsafe situation being created. Given the complex wastewater treated, the unique operating conditions, and the strict water and air permits, the Bayport Facility is a model for how to treat industrial wastewater well.
Texas WaterTM 2022 Awards Program
