Industry-Leading Equipment to Boost Plant Performance

Retrofits and Upgrades

Industrial and municipal water processing equipment is subject to significant wear and tear. While WesTech can replace its own existing equipment when, for instance, clarifier parts are worn down, a plant’s performance will improve with an upgrade or retrofit that allows it to stay in peak operating condition.

Whether you’re a power plant operator or a municipal wastewater plant supervisor, you can expect that an upgrade (replacing to a higher standard) or retrofit (installing WesTech equipment in place of a competitor’s) will improve operating efficiency, meet new regulations, improve consistency, and increase capacity. This applies to both minor repairs and complete overhauls. As an added benefit, retrofits and upgrades are not processed as capital projects and do not need lengthy engineering or permits.

Retrofits

You can save money and time by retrofitting existing equipment rather than buying new. Retrofitting another manufacturer’s brand improves reliability and functionality, and WesTech has in-house design capability to optimize the retrofit process and eliminate the use of outside contractors and engineers.

WesTech industry-leading retrofit equipment will:

  • Restore performance strength to units that have worn out
  • Extend equipment service for years, including:
    • Water and wastewater plants
    • Package plants
    • Filters
    • Media
    • Drives

With decades of experience in the water treatment industry, WesTech has improved plant operations by completing retrofits in multiple processes to include: ultrafiltration system expansion capacity, clarifier efficiency (PDF), and thickener feedwell product recovery (PDF), along with other solutions.

From the moment we engineer the equipment and beyond the original installation, WesTech works with customers to maintain consistent performance of existing plant operations. As an industry leader in drive replacement and retrofits, WesTech can restore any brand of clarifier or thickener with a quick-delivery promise.

Many of WesTech’s retrofits are drive replacements. With superior performance and design flexibility, WesTech’s drive units are well-respected in the industry. These retrofits are ideal for replacing old or damaged drives, serving as drop-in replacements or drive retrofits for any brand of clarifier or thickener. Our extended warranty is significantly longer than what is standard in the industry.

Upgrades

A sustainable plant operation requires continued optimization, including plant upgrades, to improve overall processes and equipment. Equipment upgrades will:

Increase Capacity

By providing increased throughput and reduced operating costs, upgrades can significantly increase plant capacity and save money by reusing existing equipment.

Digester Upgrade Wins New Business

When a yogurt plant considered moving to an Upstate New York city, the present water resource recovery facility (WRRF) was limited in how much of the yogurt waste it could handle. Its limitations jeopardized the city’s ability to take advantage of this economic opportunity. With an upgrade to the city’s WRRF, a 75-year-old digester complex was transformed into a plant with a 50 percent greater hydraulic capacity and the ability to treat this new, unique waste stream in a sustainable way.

Read the full story here

Eliminate Bottlenecks

Investment in an equipment upgrade can keep bottlenecks from reducing system capacity when an underperforming part of the process limits throughput.

Ultrafiltration System Retrofit

The ultrafiltration (UF) system at a mine in Elko, Nevada was aging and underperforming, requiring significant maintenance, frequent membrane replacements, and excessive cleaning in the downstream reverse osmosis system. A new hollow-fiber UF system was installed, including a complete redesign of plant piping and ancillary equipment. A new clean-in-place system can now simultaneously treat two units at once to reduce downtime, improving the overall throughput of the system.

Read the full story here (PDF)

Reduce Maintenance Costs

WesTech can help assess whether a replacement or upgrade can meet a water or wastewater plant’s goals to improve maintenance spending.

Successful Clarifier Upgrade in Challenging Setting

To improve efficiency at a water treatment plant on the Mississippi River, the facility wanted to reduce their two-step process for handling solids to save money and energy. WesTech recommended upgrading its conventional clarifier to a Solids CONTACT CLARIFIER™ that combined the two steps into one clarifier.

Read the full story here

WesTech Field Services engineers can evaluate and install an upgrade or retrofit calling on their unique experience and insight into how the equipment works.

In most situations, a field engineer is called to go on-site for a repair, sometimes for supervision, or for training a customer’s employees. If the issue is more extensive and requires complete installation services, this then turns into a turnkey and retrofit project.

Turnkey Solutions

WesTech expertise expands beyond equipment engineering to services and solutions that are tailored to water or wastewater plant maintenance needs. Whether the project includes upgrades, retrofits, or replacements, WesTech handles all the steps required, from preparing the site to service after installation.

Our services include:

  • Design and engineering
  • Equipment selection
  • Construction management
  • Delivery
  • Installation
  • Maintenance and inspection
  • Supervision by expert technicians
  • Staff training
  • Service contracts

WesTech is the sole point of contact and provides a complete turnkey solution. This saves the customer time and allows for a single purchase order. Upgrades and retrofits come with performance guarantees.

An on-site laboratory testing facility includes technicians who are specialists in filtration, sedimentation, and flotation. They can combine laboratory data with years of equipment experience to provide valuable insight for site planning and performance improvements.

Turnkey Benefits

  • Single point of responsibility
  • Licensed in-house process, civil, and mechanical engineers
  • In-house industrial construction professionals
  • Superior service from concept to startup and well after project completion
  • Custom system design and integration
  • Quality equipment with long life cycles
  • Electrical and piping design
  • Full document-control capabilities
  • Process consultation, including laboratory bench-scale, field, and pilot testing
  • Domestic and international expertise

Replace, Refurbish, or Rebuild?

  • Replacement and Retrofit

    Replace WesTech’s own equipment or a competitor’s.

    Advantages

    • Brand new equipment
    • Longest warranty
    • Longest life

    Considerations

    • Manufacturing lead time
    • Cost
  • Refurbish

    Bring equipment to an approved shop for work.

    Advantages

    • Improved quality
    • Detailed assessment
    • Factory or factory-authorized shop

    Considerations

    • Mobilization to remove plus mobilization to reinstall
    • Longest down time
    • No warranty
  • Rebuild

    Take an existing piece of equipment and reconstruct it on site.

    Advantages

    • Only one mobilization
    • Lower cost than refurbishing
    • Fastest lead time

    Considerations

    • Limited warranty
    • Work subject to site conditions

Contact WesTech to Learn More About Our Retrofit Services

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