The commissioning of the renovated and expanded Frankfort, Indiana, wastewater treatment plant was completed in September 2022. PENETRON ADMIX SB, a crystalline concrete waterproofing admixture, was used to protect all wet well concrete structures of the new plant from the aggressive environment of the effluent.
A city of almost 17,000 inhabitants located in central Indiana, Frankfort has an attractive town center with many historic landmarks. The city’s original wastewater treatment plant was built in the late 1920s and has undergone at least five upgrades and expansions over the last 100 years, including the construction of lift stations and a successively expanded sewer overflow system.
The completion of the wastewater treatment plant’s (WWTP) upgrades this summer doubled its flow capacity from 4.6 million gallons per day (MGD) to 9 MGD. The layout of the new WWTP includes a Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) system which reduces the ammonia and phosphorus in the treated wastewater flow prior to discharge into nearby Prairie Creek. In addition, four new plant influent pumps, two new secondary clarifier tanks, four tertiary cloth filters, a bio-solids digester boiler/heat exchanger, a rotary sludge thickener, a sludge dewatering centrifuge, and a long-term bio-solids storage building were added.
The project’s structural engineers at Wessler Engineering specified a durable and reliable concrete waterproofing solution for all WWTP concrete structures that are exposed to the aggressive mix of chlorides, sulfates, nitrates, disinfectants – and a range of corrosive compounds and chemicals used in the sewage treatment processes. Penetron worked with Irving Materials, Inc. (imi), the ready-mix concrete supplier, to ensure an optimal level of concrete protection for the new concrete structures.
“Adding PENETRON ADMIX SB to the concrete mix reduces concrete permeability, increases chemical resistance, and enables self-sealing of any hairline cracks. This helps enhance the durability of the plant’s key concrete components,” adds Christopher Chen, Director of The Penetron Group. “Last but not least, PENETRON ADMIX SB was also the most cost-effective crystalline waterproofing solution that was considered for this project.”
