5 Reasons to Choose a Lamella Clarifier for Water Treatment | Prime

A lamella clarifier packs a large settling area into a compact footprint by using closely spaced inclined plates.

But that compact design is only part of the story.

Prime’s EnviroHub lamella clarifiers also include practical features that simplify setup, dosing, sludge management and cleaning on site. Here are five reasons to consider them for your site’s water treatment.

Key takeaways

• Simple to operate – set the starting flow and dose, then monitor the system as conditions change.
• Compact treatment – get a large settling area without needing a large pond.
• Practical maintenance – built-in features make dosing, sludge removal and cleaning easier to manage on site.

Quick to set up – simple to run

Once your lamella clarifier settling tank is set up correctly, day-to-day operation becomes more about monitoring than continual adjustment.

Lifting points and forklift pockets help your crew position the EnviroHub unit on site. Prime then uses water testing to set the starting flow and chemical dose, if needed, before fine-tuning the system during commissioning.

Base Contracting, a Queenstown Lakes civil contractor working across earthworks and drainage projects, was new to using the lamella but had the equipment in place and running within a day.

When asked if they’d use the lamella clarifier again, they said:

Those checks helped confirm the treated water was still coming out as expected, without continual adjustment to the system – giving Base’s crew more time to focus on the wider job.

Prime’s solar-powered EnviroHub lamella clarifier for compact site water treatment

Fit more settling area into less space

Flow capacity and footprint have to be considered together on sites with limited space.

Inclined plates increase the settling area inside the tank – keeping the treatment footprint compact. This is useful on urban, roadside and other constrained jobs where treatment has to fit alongside the rest of the site setup.

For higher flows, multiple lamella clarifiers can operate in parallel. Water testing helps establish a realistic operating flow for the incoming solids load, settling behaviour and treatment setup.

Make chemical dosing easier to manage on site

Fine silt and clay can remain suspended after heavier sediment has settled – so where testing shows you need dosing, chemical treatment helps these finer particles settle more readily.

The EnviroHub lamella clarifier can be configured with a compact dosing setup that sits within the tank footprint. The setup depends on what’s in the water and how it needs to be treated, with options including:

• Single or dual dosing – to suit the treatment required
• Treatment chemicals – such as PAC, polymer or other chemicals identified through water testing
• Proportional dosing – to match chemical delivery to measured water flow
• Power options – 230V mains or generator, or solar with battery storage.

Allow additional space for containers and servicing.

Using a proportional dosing setup means chemical delivery increases or decreases with measured water flow. If the incoming water quality changes, retesting may show that the dose should be adjusted. The solar option can support 24/7 dosing where a mains connection isn’t practical.

Base Contracting started with an initial dose before fine-tuning the treatment setup on site.

Prime and the Base team then worked through the flow and dose together until the system was running as intended. Find out more about manual and proportional dosing systems.

The HL50 lamella clarifier settling tank working on sediment in Kaiapoi

Monitor sludge as it builds up

Settling solids is only half the job – the sludge that collects still has to be monitored and removed.

The steep-sided hopper in Prime’s EnviroHub design directs settled solids towards the bottom drain, while a sight glass lets your team see how much sludge has accumulated.

When sludge builds up, you can draw it out through the drain with a sucker truck while treatment continues. Depending on your setup, you can also pump it to a separate collection point – such as a sludge pond or dewatering bag.

How often this is needed depends on how much sediment is coming in. The sight glass shows crews when it’s time to act, rather than relying on a fixed schedule.

Lamella clarifier and pump ready to be transported to site

Get the level of support your site needs 

If you’re hiring an lamella clarifier tank, you can choose from three levels of support:

• Equipment hire – we help you choose the right equipment, while your team installs and operates it
• Design and installation – we design, install and commission the setup, then train your team
• Full service operation – we design, install and operate the treatment system for you.

Whichever level you choose, Prime is still there to help if conditions change or the system needs troubleshooting.

Base Contracting was new to using the lamella. When their initial dose didn’t account for the actual flow, they contacted Prime and worked through the setup with the team.

Together, Prime and Base fine-tuned the flow and dose until the system was running as intended.

Considering a lamella clarifier for your site? Tell us about your water, expected flow and available space. Prime can help determine whether lamella treatment suits the job and what setup you’ll need.

Find out more about our EnviroHub lamella clarifier tanks.