Introducing the OpTeaCup
There's a New TeaCup® in Town!
Hydro International's TeaCup® grit concentration / classification system has been redesigned to accommodate today's wastewater influent conditions. The result is the OpTeaCup® which has been updated to combat the increasing use of flushable wipes, reduce the number of external components, and eliminate the need for fluidizing water. The OpTeaCup® is based on Hydro International's decades of experience and thousands of successful free vortex grit removal installations. Following is a summary of a few of the key new design features.
Flushable Wipes? No Problem!
Rags and strings have always been problems for wastewater treatment plants. While screening systems can stop some of it, much of these nuisance materials still find ways to pass right through and cause all kinds of problems in downstream processes. With "flushable" wipes now on the scene, the problem has become even worse. Despite the wastewater industry's best efforts to educate the wider community about the problems flushable wipes cause for treatment plants, major wipe manufacturers continue to actively market them as flushable.
As the first line of defense after the screening system, headworks grit removal systems can be severely impacted by wipes, rags, and strings. The internal geometry of the TeaCup® has been completely redesigned in the OpTeaCup® with expanded clearances, low profile fasteners, and a simplified operational sequence to handle even the most stubborn nuisance material conditions.
A Complete Grit Removal Process Engineered to Prevent Ragging
Our grit separation technologies like the HeadCell® and Grit King® are entirely hydraulically operated. Both are intentionally designed with structured flow, wide clearances, and no complicated internal elements or moving parts that are so often prone to severe ragging. As flushable wipes began to rise in use, a few of our TeaCup® washing systems that had been installed and continuously operating for 20 or 30 years began to struggle with the rapidly increasing load of flushable wipes. So our R&D team performed a thorough functional decomposition of the TeaCup® using CFD, lab and field testing, and applied Hydro's decades of installed system experience to identify ways to improve the TeaCup®.
The OpTeaCup® eliminates pinch points - increasing throughput capacity, removes external components, and significantly reduces the required maintenance. The result is a refined design that doesn't sacrifice any of the fine grit removal performance that Hydro's customers expect. The addition of the OpTeaCup® to Hydro International's product portfolio allows us to offer HeadCell® and Grit King® based performance to meet an even wider array of treatment plant operating conditions. Now you can have an entire end-to-end grit removal process specifically designed to prevent problems under even the most extreme ragging conditions. Along with this comes the added benefit of single supplier accountability, guaranteed system performance, and Hydro International's industry-leading commitment to service and long-term customer satisfaction.
Upgraded Design Eliminates External Components and Minimizes Maintenance
Aside from reducing ragging related maintenance, the OpTeaCup® has eliminated the need for solenoids and fluidizing water as well as the need to connect to a control panel. These improvements reduce utility water requirements and means there are less components to maintain and monitor. The OpTeaCup® can be operated either continuously or intermittently.
Improved and Easily Accessible Wear Plate
The OpTeaCup® features a new accessible orifice plate which simplifies long-term maintenance while also offering flexibility in how coarse organics are managed. Operators who prefer coarse organics (i.e. corn) to pass through to the bioprocess will utilize a smaller orifice which reduces organics going to dewatering. Operators who prefer coarse organics be removed with the dewatered grit can utilize a larger orifice so this material exits with the OpTeaCup® underflow.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg on the many features and improvements added to the OpTeaCup®.
To learn more:
• Contact your local Hydro Sales Representative
• Visit the OpTeaCup® Product Page
OpTeaCup® Throughput Demonstration Video
To demonstrate the phenomenal throughput capacity of the OpTeaCup® we "borrowed" some balls (golf, ping-pong, bouncy), and toys from our kids, and picked up a bag of rags from Home Depot and threw them all into the OpTeaCup® then started the system up.
You can watch just how well the system handled these items in this video.