Brazilian Water Treatment Plant Upgrade

The upgrade at the Rio Manso WTP at Brumadinho in the south east of Brazil involved the building of an additional filter plant, the replacement of obsolete actuators on existing plant and the introduction of a Profibus digital control network.

Profibus DP enabled Rotork IQ multi-turn non-intrusive intelligent electric valve actuators were installed during the upgrade and expansion of the water treatment plant. The majority of the 136 IQ electric actuators were installed to control the inlet, outlet and backwashing functions on the new and existing filters. The remainder of the actuators are installed on the sludge collectors, sludge thickeners and secondary collectors from which the raw water is extracted for treatment.

The upgrade is the first P3 (Public Private Partnership) project to be performed by COPASA, a Brazilian company specialising in the design and implementation of solutions for water supply, sewage and solid waste management. Rotork Brazil worked closely with COPASA, main contractor Odebrecht and valve makers in Brazil and overseas during negotiations and technical discussions, which resulted in the Profibus DP enabled IQ being selected as the preferred actuator.