An East coast wastewater treatment plant was plagued with struvite-ridden pipelines throughout their pumping station. The 20’’ diameter pipelines were reduced to 14’’ which restricted the standard flow of 24,000 GPM down to 11,400 GPM! This consequently caused the 350 hp pump motors to run very hot and check/gate valves were not able to actuate! Alternatives to bypass were considered but costs exceeded $1 million and time did not allow for construction.

Maintenance staff required immediate action and chose the cost-effective and readily available, biodegradable descaler RYDLYME.  Acquired later that week, they circulated 14 totes of RYDLYME via an industrial descaling system and extra hoses. After the cleaning, RYDLYME dissolved all of the struvite and returned the pipelines to their 20’’ diameter. The flow rate was also restored to the designed specification of 24,000 GPM. The RYDLYME cleaning was 1/20th the cost of bypassing the pipeline and the cleaning was completed in less than a week! Afterward, the impressed maintenance staff used RYDLYME to descale vacuum filter belts to increase sludge dryness.