Astell manufacture a wide range of liquid Effluent Treatment Plants to service both CAT III and CAT 4 High Containment Facilities. As a result of well publicised breakdowns in contamination control, more and more Research facilities are being regulated to ensure all contaminated liquids are sterilized before discharge into the drainage system.

As these facilities are usually isolated from the general service area within a building it is easy to capture liquid waste in the containment facility and store it safely before heat treatment and disposal.

The most common form of treatment is sterilization (121degC for 1 hour ) but as we know the waste going down the drain is totally dependant on the security of the labs working practices.  Astell offers a Batch Sterilization Plant consisting of two tanks from 100 litre to 5000 litres to cope with the smallest daily use from sinks to larger flows from toilets, showers or the washing down of equipment.

The system is designed to operate on a RUN / STANDBY mode meaning one tank is filling or idle whilst the other tank is sterilizing or cooling. The systems are sized to ensure the average daily output is dealt with without any interruption from over full tanks.

As the tanks fill with liquid the air is expelled through single (or optional double) steam sterilizerable filters ensuring no contaminated vapour can escape.

All connections are mounted on the top of each pressure vessel reducing the possibility of leaks that would require the tanks to be emptied before repair. The pipe work is designed to allow manual steaming of all parts of the system during maintenance or breakdown or the addition of chemicals if the steam supply fails.

Heating is from the installed Steam Generator or from on- site Steam. The pressure vessels are jacketed both for heating and cooling. Vessel agitation is fitted to speed up heating and cooling times along with the added advantage that solids can be processed with out  settling out on the tank bottom or walls.

The tank level is controlled from Radar level controls recognised as one of the best ways to accurately monitor liquid levels in a hot steamy environment.

On completion of cooling the tanks are emptied using compressed air eliminating the need for pumps.

The plant is controlled via two PLC full colour Touch Screens, showing a constant display of tank status, tank level %, tank temperature in °C, tank pressure in mbars. The controllers are fully programmable and password protected with the facility to override the system during maintenance.

The Effluent plant is supplied with an Ethernet connection, which if connected to a dedicated line can mimic either tank controller on a remote PC.

The system is designed and manufactured to comply with PD97/23EC Pressure Equipment Directive such that the pressure vessel design eliminates the need for safety valves on the sterilizing chamber.

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