Airport pump system design is an important part of the operations of an airport as they handle wastewater or stormwater to allow the facility to operate properly. Airports are high traffic locations, where pumping systems will be pushed to the brink. Romtec Utilities uses our vast knowledge with these unique applications to design, supply, and manufacture the best airport pump stations possible.
Airports are a critical part of travel and transportation across the U.S. and come with their own unique set of pumping environments.
With time, major or international airports need to be upgraded to keep up with growing travel demand and to ensure their systems are up to speed for their facilities.
At Romtec Utilities we have worked on several airport pump systems that vary from industrial wastewater pump stations to high volume stormwater pump stations that handle runway and parking lot runoff. As designers, manufacturers, and suppliers of pump systems, we can design an airport pumping system to meet the specific site, infrastructure, and pumping requirements.
Airport Pump System Considerations
Airports have different types of considerations when replacing or installing a new pump system:
-Existing utilities and infrastructure underground present a challenge when deciding where new or replacement systems should go.
-Coordinating commissioning of the system is complex as there are many parts moving at once: an airport doesn’t ever stop.
-Airports have tough pumping environments and require robust pumps and systems that can handle large solids that are flushed into the system.
-Stormwater from runways can come in large amounts and can contain VOCs and other contaminants which can provide their own unique hurdles.
We can help you with the challenges that come with airport pump stations as our team of engineers design the system to meet the exact needs of the site and airport pumping requirements.
Existing utilities and infrastructure
We provided an industrial wastewater lift station for the PDX TCORE as the main sewer pump station for Portland International Airport. The airport recently went a major upgrade called PDX Next which increased the capacity of the airport from 20 million to 35 million people per year.
A port (especially the Port of Portland) behaves like a small city. Utilities are added over the years, and the “maze” of what exists below the surface is extravagant. Romtec Utilities had to do a significant amount of site modeling and evaluation for the PDX TCORE project to ensure that the wastewater system was placed in the proper location.
The wastewater lift station features two custom in line grinders also called muffin monsters that macerate and reduce any solids before they reach the lift station The in line grinders help reduce solids and prevent damage to the lift station while dealing with the difficult airport pumping environment where irregular waste may be are thrown into the wastewater system.
People don’t live at the airport, meaning that there is little liquid without solids, the type of greywater which would typically be created by showering, laundry, dishes and other activities in a residential environment, and an airport may have a wide range of inappropriate items that get flushed down the toilet. The wastewater systems (like PDX TCORE) need to have robust pumps that can handle extreme solids. In this case, the system also has upstream grinder manholes. In addition to supporting the restrooms, an airport pump station will process liquid waste from the restaurants and other businesses operating within.
Coordination with the Airport
An airport has robust existing infrastructure both on the structural and mechanical side of things, but also on the SCADA and electrical spectrum. One challenge is scheduling when installing and commissioning a system. Romtec Utilities schedules a time to commission the system with the airport. To meet the airport’s needs, we provide multiple training sessions to ensure all shifts have a chance to attend. The airport cannot simply stop all activity to bring the system online.
When PDX TCORE was brought online, flows were redirected to the new system. The room for error was very low during this process.
For a different project, Romtec Utilities worked with PDX on a high-volume stormwater pump station. One of its runways needed a large pump station to discharge large volumes of water to a nearby creek. The Columbia River is right next to Portland Airport and therefore has high groundwater tables.
When Runway 3-21 was under construction, it was at the end of an auxiliary runway at an active airport. There is more coordination needed to get on-site, and rules that need to be followed while on-site installing the system.
We designed a system with 50 horsepower Flygt axial flow pumps along with a 15 hp jockey pump. We provided large piping and 24 inch operational valves. We also provided three individual precast vaults to house the triplex discharge valves which helped with the construction lead times.
The system can pump up to 18,140 gallons per minute with low head requirements.
We met all the rules and requirements for this stormwater lift station project, to help handle the high flows of stormwater on the runway. For the training and commissioning of the system we did a two-day training session that went over all the operations and controls of the systems and various alarms. We worked with their operations team to schedule a time that would allow all their maintenance team to attend one of the meetings.
Airport Stormwater Lift Station
On the stormwater side of things, we also encountered unique hurdles. The water comes off the runway (in mass quantities) and often contains VOCs and other contaminants. This is true for the stormwater system that services the PDX parking garage area as well.
To meet the needs of each specific airport and dealing with VOC’s or other contaminants we pulled the knowledge from our previous work on a variety of industrial pumping projects that deal with chemicals or contaminants. We have designed systems that meet all these pumping environments, which sometimes feature fiberglass vaults with leak detection.
For the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport, we designed a wastewater lift station for the airport with two submersible solid handling pumps. A jockey pump was also used for low flows that act as a sump pump. A large control building was part of this project which housed the generator, control panel, and a ferrous oxide chemical feed for odor control.
As airports have unique pumping environments, we have worked to design, manufacture, and supply complete pump systems that meet the complete pumping needs of the airport. We can design a system that handles high volumes of stormwater on runways or the tough pumping environment of airport wastewater systems.
