Case study on electric actuators

Paul Boughton

AUMA has supplied more than 100 electric actuators to a pioneering micropollutant elimination facility at Steinhäule sewage treatment plant in Ulm, Germany. The electric actuators provide fully automated sewage water control within the activated carbon system of the STP. A primary objective of the new facility is to eliminate drug residues, hormones and biocidal products from sewage water. 

The new purification facility is the largest plant in Germany using an activated carbon adsorption process. The scheme includes several contact reactor basins in which activated carbon is mixed with sewage water: the mixture is directed to a sedimentation basin and a sand filter with 20 chambers.

At the inauguration of the plant, Franz Untersteller, Environmental minister of Baden-Württemberg confirmed the project is one of Germany’s most advanced schemes of its kind. Approximately 400 million cubic metres of sewage water per annum produced by around 440,000 inhabitants of the Ulm region are treated by the facility.

Reliability and robustness for outdoor operation and low operating costs were key factors that led to AUMA being awarded the prestigious electric actuator contract. Latest control technology also appealed to the customer as actuators were easily integrated via PROFIBUS into the central process control system and line topology implementation reduced cable length requirements to a minimum.

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