Hydro MicroScreen™ helps a California pulp and paper plant replace an unreliable plate and frame press - cutting maintenance, improving performance and paying for itself in just six months.

A California pulp and paper plant was using a plate and frame press to remove total suspended solids (TSS) from their process wastewater stream.

The press was a maintenance nightmare: it would frequently break down, forcing the plant to shut the entire operation down until they could repair it. Cleaning and reassembling the press took three people one full shift every week. They were wasting 1,200 hours each year just keeping their frame and press system operational – not to mention the impacts of the associated downtime.

Looking for a better solution, plant staff contacted Hydro International to arrange a demonstration run of the Hydro MicroScreen™ rotating belt screen system at their plant on typical operational flows. After a single shift of operation, the Hydro MicroScreen™ captured twice as much TSS as the plate and frame press in the same amount of time, and required no cleaning or maintenance.

Solids output from the Hydro MicroScreen™ system was also dry enough that they could be sent directly to landfill without any additional processing.

Pleased with the performance and eager to get rid of their plate and frame press problems, the plant ordered a Hydro MicroScreen™ system. The system is estimated to deliver a 100% ROI in just over 6 months from plate and frame maintenance cost reductions alone.