Real-world Reliability and O&M of High-speed Turbo and Integrally-geared Blowers

Aeration blowers consume around half of all electricity used at a water resource recovery facility (WRRF). Choosing the most efficient blowers can save money, electricity, and greenhouse gas emissions. High-speed turbo blowers and single-stage integrally-geared (SSIG) blowers offer some of the highest efficiencies for process aeration, but operations and maintenance (O&M) staff may not have experience with these technologies. This paper documents comparative O&M experiences between turbo and SSIG blowers compiled from interviews with thirteen (13) North American water utilities with medium to large size blower installations as well as the authors’ own experience and past projects. In addition, turbo blower reliability and failure data and maintenance contract information were solicited from turbo blower manufacturers and summarized. This information was used to support one water utility’s blower technology decision and the authors hope this information will be useful to other utilities as well.