Second Or-Tec Belt Press goes to work in Bowie, Texas

The City of Bowie, in Northern Texas, which is named for the legendary frontiersman and knife fighter Jim Bowie, recently added an Or-Tec xpress 1700 belt press to its WWTP. The Or-Tec xpress joins an Or-Tec Mark II 1500 that has been operating at the plant since 2006. Plant Superintendent Jerry Sutton says that although Bowie considered other manufacturer's equipment, they chose a second Or-Tec press because, We had dealt with Or-Tec for 10 years and knew their work ethic and equipment. Their pricing was also key.

Before purchasing its first Or-Tec belt press in 2006, Bowie had been hauling liquid sludge out of the plant - which was expensive and limited their disposal options. Or-Tec's Mark II 1500 skid mounted, stainless steel, single belt press system gave them the ability to control sludge levels in the plant and more disposal options.

The unit got the job done, and continues to operate well - more than ten years later. However due to increased flow and sludge production Bowie decided they needed a belt press system with a larger capacity. Sutton researched several different options and went to see another manufacturers belt press at a local facility. After looking at a number of different options, the city decided the Or-Tec xpress 1700 was the best solution.

The Or-Tec xpress 1700 is a skid mounted, stainless steel double belt press system. It almost doubles the throughput they already had with the single belt press system and produces a drier cake The original plan was for Or-Tec to buy back the existing single belt unit and for Bowie to replace it with the new xpress. As the process went forward Bowie ultimately decided to keep the single belt Mark II as a backup sludge system. After all, despite being in service for over 10 years, the unit is still in excellent working order and has many years life left in it. The new Or-Tec xpress 1700 was started up in September of 2016. It's larger capacity and the 19-21% cake on the plants aerobic sludge has made personnel very happy. As Sutton says, The new belt press has made life so much easier for us.