Save Water – Reduce Costs
Press release
Festo at IFAT 2012
Festo has its roots in factory automation. The company also applies its decades of
automation technology experience to the automation of water technology processes –
with complete automation solutions customised to the individual requirements of plant
operators. Control technology is combined with pneumatic drives for process valves.
This gives rise to a consistent automation concept from the process control system to
programmable logic control up to field level.
Number
IFAT 01/2012
Date
7 May 2012
Our reference
TM-IP/HAUG
Water is a precious commodity throughout the world – so careful handling of this resource is
particularly important. Automated potable water purification and wastewater treatment help
to ensure a high level of supply and process safety. For these requirements in particular,
pneumatics represent a cost-effective and reliable alternative to electrical automation
systems. In its extensive product range for water technology, Festo offers automation
solutions from process valves to the coordinating level as a complete package: pneumatic
drives for hand lever valves, butterfly valves and ball valves, local controllers, control
cabinets with valve terminals, integrated controllers and fieldbus.
Why use pneumatics in water technology?
Pneumatic automation technology reduces investment, installation and operating costs
compared with electrical installations by over 50 % in some cases. Pneumatic drives require
no maintenance for their entire lifespan. As process valves are operated irregularly in water
technology, deposits or caking can form which lead to much higher breakaway torques. The
overload protection of the pneumatics is a crucial feature here.
If the drive comes to a stop, the pressure on the pressure regulator can simply be increased to
make it possible to apply more force – avoiding the need for costly maintenance. Another
advantage is that the compressed air is available even in the event of an electrical power
failure, as an air reservoir is always available as well as a compressor to generate and supply
compressed air.
Legal form:
Limited partnership
Registered office: Esslingen a. N.
Register court Stuttgart
COR 211583
Value added tax id. number:
DE 145 339 206
General partner:
Festo Management
Aktiengesellschaft
Registered office: Vienna/Austria
Commercial register court:
Commercial court Vienna
COR FN 303027 d
Board of Director:
Dipl.-Kfm. Alfred Goll
Dr. Claus Jessen
Dr. Ansgar Kriwet
Dipl.-Kfm. Michael Mölleken
Dr. Eberhard Veit (Chairman)
Chairman of the Supervisory Board:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joachim Milberg
Festo AG & Co. KG
P. O. Box
Systematically automated
The valve terminal is at the core of pneumatic systems in water technology as a decentralised
element. Near the process valves, it is ideal for rapid and simple automation solutions in
which process valves, pneumatics and electronics interact optimally. The valve terminals are
modularly equipped depending on the number of process valves. With the fieldbus, this
73726 Esslingen
Phone +49 711 347-4032
haug@de.festo.com
www.festo.com
Ruiter Straße 82
73734 Esslingen
system solution has just a single, clearly defined and standardised interface between the
controller (PLC) and the valve terminal. The advantage of the system concept is that
extensions or changes can be made at the control level without replacing the hardware. In
addition, all components of the machine technology are compatible. Pneumatics from Festo
are used around the world in water works and water purification plants, for example in the
Black Forest in Germany and in sunny Greece.
Potable water supply in Istanbul
Although almost entirely surrounded by water, it is no easy task for the Istanbul water supply
company ISKI to provide drinking water for the 14 million inhabitants along the straits
between Europe and Asia. This requires over 2,000,000 m³ of processed river and rain water
every day. To meet the continually rising demand in this boomtown on the Bosporus, ISKI
has modernised four processing plants.
ISKI replaced the butterfly valves on the filter basins with pneumatic drives and positioners
from Festo and installed control loops with flow and level sensors. Modern control cabinets
with front-end display, integrated front-end controllers and monitoring software from Festo
replaced old control centres. Automation with pneumatics makes the operation and
maintenance of plants simple and cost-effective. The water quality has improved measurably
as a result. Automation enables rapid intervention in the event of an emergency.
Central wastewater treatment plant in Athens
Psyttalia Wastewater Treatment Plant is the name of the ambitious project on the eponymous
island of Psyttalia in the bay off the coast of Athens and the harbour town of Piraeus. Sewage
is pumped through pipelines 1.5 km long from the mainland to the rocky island of Psyttalia.
The technical data underlines the gigantic scale of the plant: the biological purification
process includes 12 fermentation tanks with a total volume of almost 300,000 m³ and a flow
rate of 1,000,000 m³ per day.
Inflow is controlled by gate valves with pneumatic linear drive units of the type DLP. These
act directly on the slide gate and so require no maintenance, unlike other types of drive. The
flow control system for the biogas generated in the fermentation tanks uses semi-rotary
drives. They also regulate the distribution of hot water for the heat exchangers, which
maintain a constant temperature of 36 °C in the fermentation tanks.
Festo AG...
... is both a global player and an independent family-owned company with its headquarters in
Esslingen am Neckar. The company provides pneumatic and electrical automation
technology for 300,000 customers in over 200 industries. Its products and services are
available in 176 countries worldwide. With about 15,500 employees in 59 national
companies throughout the world, Festo generated revenues of € 2.1 billion in 2011, of which
9% is invested annually in research and development. As a learning company, Festo invests
1.5% of its revenue in education and training. The learning opportunities it offers are not
only for employees; Festo Didactic GmbH provides industrial education and training
programs in automation technology for customers, students and trainees as well.
Global production network
Festo produces pneumatic and electric drives, valves and valve terminals, handling systems,
service units for compressed air preparation, sensors, tubing and microsystem technology at
twelve production sites, each specialising in certain product groups, in Brazil, Bulgaria,
China, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, India, Singapore, Switzerland, the Ukraine
and the United States. Countless custom manufacturing solutions are created in accordance
with the concept of "production on demand" in Brazil, Germany and the United States for the
relevant regional markets of Europe, Asia, NAFTA and South America.
Please refer to:
Festo press photo IFAT_0112_Overview_1.tif
Caption to illustration:
Clean water on the Bosporus: Festo automated water works in
Istanbul. (Photo: Festo)
Please refer to:
Festo press photo IFAT_0112_Overview_2.tif
Caption to illustration:
Everything in view: modern control cabinets with front-end
display, integrated front-end controllers and monitoring software
from Festo replaced old control centres.
(Photo: Festo).
Please refer to:
Festo press photo IFAT_0112_Overview_3.tif
Caption to illustration:
2,000,000 m³ of processed river and rain water for 14 million
inhabitants daily: new pneumatic drives and positioners from
Festo for butterfly valves on the filter basins and control loops
with flow and level sensors. (Photo: Festo).
Please refer to:
Festo press photo IFAT_0112_Overview_4.tif
Caption to illustration:
Automated potable water purification and wastewater treatment
helps to ensure a high level of supply and process safety. (Photo:
Festo)
Please refer to:
Festo press photo IFAT_0112_Overview_5.tif
Caption to illustration:
Psyttalia Wastewater Treatment Plant: the waste water from
Athens is pumped along a 1.5 km pipeline from the mainland to
the purification plant on the rocky island of Psyttalia.
(Photo: Festo)
Please refer to:
Festo press photo IFAT_0112_Overview_6.tif
Caption to illustration:
Festo supplies 300,000 customers worldwide with pneumatic and
electrical automation technology: the Technology Center at the
company headquarters in Esslingen/Neckar can be seen here.
(Photo: Festo)
Press text and photos are also available online at www.festo.com/press.