Water Treatment
Stark Engineering was founded as a water and wastewater treatment company, with our first contract working at the then Gosford Council offices on a stormwater harvesting project. We have since grown in experience and range of services.
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Water and wastewater treatment are challenging areas in Australia due to population densities, growth, environmental regulation and varying climate conditions. Stark Engineering has the necessary understanding and experience to provide effective solutions for all types of water treatment.
Membrane plant design and MBR Systems
Process Modelling and Biological Nutrient Removal
Digestion and Resource Recovery
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Membrane plant design and MBR Systems
We have considerable experiencing with membrane treatment plants, including:
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Feasibility, design and tender preparation operating as owners’ engineers
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Statutory approvals, working with authorities, preparation of reuse risk management framework
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Detailed design and process modelling
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Facilitation of safety workshops (Risk Review, HAZOP, CHAIR, FMECA)
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Supply and installation with our partners
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Commissioning, training and documenting
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Operation and maintenance, 24 hour on-call support, technical support
Our personnel have undergone specialised training on the design of membrane plants. Stark has developed empirical models to be able to quickly estimate plant and equipment sizing for filtration plants and MBR. More detailed models are developed for the detailed design stage of a project to test the process against a range of conditions.
Our personnel have considerable experience commissioning and tuning membrane plants as well as providing operation and maintenance technical support. We focus on finding the root cause of issues, reducing ongoing operational faults, callouts and downtime. Our mixture of process, mechanical, electrical and controls engineering personnel are able to address all plant issues. Our design and commissioning experience brings a solid foundation to plant maintenance.
For more detailed information or a price offer on any of our services contact Stark Engineering Consulting
Process Modelling and Biological Nutrient Removal
Stark Engineering can provide process modelling for various treatment processes. Using both empirical models and Biowin modelling software, we are able to accurately predict the design limitations of a particular system. We use process modelling as part of our detailed design for new and existing plants that are experiencing issues.
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Our understanding of water and wastewater treatment as well as experience with design and operation of plants allows our engineers to quickly focus on key parts of the process to come up with workable solutions. We aim to produce simple robust processes that are well designed that mitigate known process issues.
Stormwater Harvesting & Reuse Scheme
Stark Engineering has considerable experience in the design of stormwater harvesting and reuse schemes, having worked through government and state guidelines for risk-based design. We have worked with regulating authorities and understand what is acceptable and what is ‘best practice’ for our clients.
There are many challenges around stormwater harvesting and reuse schemes. The plants can require significant capital and resources to build and maintain for the volume of water produced. Councils encourage the use of recycled water with discounts for supply where the cost per litre to treat can be higher than a large municipal drinking water plant. Clever design and a strong understanding of government guidelines allows us to balance the benefit of recycled water, mitigate pathogen risk, fit the guidelines and provide a simple robust process.
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Risk assessments and 12 step risk management framework
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Statutory approvals, development applications, grant funding management
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Feasibility, project development and costing.
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Detailed design, commissioning and 24-hour operational support
For more detailed information or a price offer on any of our services contact Stark Engineering Consulting
Water Treatment Plant Design
Our personnel have the experience and expertise in designing water treatment plants from scratch. We have been involved in all aspects of design, including:
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Source Water Monitoring
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Options assessments for conventional plants, membrane and RO plants, simple dosing systems
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Tender specification preparation and defining treated water quality to drinking water standards
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Detailed design, supply, installation and commissioning with our partners
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Training, consulting and 24/7 operation and maintenance support
Our experience with commissioning, operation and maintenance has made our personnel better treatment plant designers. We are acutely aware that every additional pump and every additional valve has a cost both the time it takes to purchase and set up, but also the added complexity it brings to the plant.
Stark Engineering takes pride in the design of dosing systems, understanding both the chemistry of chemical dosing as well as the practicality of commissioning and operating dosing plants. We work to prevent issues such as air locks from degrading chemical, over or underdosing due to changing flow rates, and access to chemical dosing equipment.
We love nothing better than a chemical bund with a floor that actually slopes to the sump. Good design prevents safety risks in an operational chemical plant. Personnel can also develop sensitivities to treatment chemicals due to unnecessary exposure over a long period of time.
Lime dosing is a special interest of ours. From working in different states with different processes we have built up an appreciation of what works and what causes issues. Lime powder needs to be handled carefully to prevent:
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hold up in the lime silo
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issues in the transition from powder to water
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scaling of the plant
We understand the difference between forming calcium hydroxide or calcium carbonate in terms of tank and pipe scaling. Lime systems can either respond very quickly to process change, or take hours depending on where and how the process is controlled. We also consider Limestone system options as a trouble-free alternative on a small scale. We would love to design a responsive and painless lime dosing system for you.
Digestion and Resource Recovery
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Digesters are an integral part of a treatment plant and need to operate well to produce an adequate class of biosolid for reuse and consistent gas production for resource recovery.
We work to solve some of the challenges of different types of digestors, including foaming issues, mixing and temperature control. Our design and operational experience allows us to evaluate a variety of options such as co-digestion, lime stabilisation and evaluation of different land application options for biosolids.
We have experience designing plants around other digestion processes such as thermal hydrolysis solutions i.e. Cambi systems. At the right size and feed material these systems can significantly improve the energy yield from treatments plants.
Our expertise in energy generation from biogas allows us to accurately determine if the significant cost of these advanced systems will produce a financial benefit long term.
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We have strong expertise in energy recovery from biogas.
