City employees at the wastewater treatment plant call them “StarBurst mixers.” The man who invented the contraption calls it a “non-clogging air lift pump.”
Six of them — by whichever name they are called — were installed June 6 at New Castle's wastewater treatment plant.
The placement of six of the cement-encased air pumps at the bottom of sludge holding tanks marks a new start in efforts to improve New Castle's sewage treatment reputation with Indiana Department of Environmental Management, an organization with which New Castle continues to attempt to comply, Mayor Greg York said.
The air pumps use chemical-free technology to break down solids in the wastewater by adding oxygen to sludge in the tanks through air bubbles.
“The technology hasn't changed,” said Sam Kondo, StarBurst owner and inventor of the air pump. Prior to StarBurst's arrivheral e in 2012, New Castle wastewater treatment plant had relied on a chemical process using a mixture including hydrogen peroxide to break down the sludge.
The hydrogen peroxide treatment was ineffective. New Castle Water Pollution Control Certified Superintendent Steve Swoveland said that the method the new air pumps will use includes none of the hydrogen peroxide.
The plan is that when the new pumps are up and running, less electricity will be used to complete the same job the hydrogen peroxide was supposed to do, but at about half the cost of the electricity, or less.
“The goal is to not allow the sludge to settle. We want to keep everything mixed,” said Kondo, who holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. “Chemicals cost money.”
Each non-clogging air lift pump weighs almost 1 ton. Most of the weight comes from cement casings manufactured at Wimmer Vault on County Road 100, where StarBurst rents manufacturing space. York owns Wimmer Vault. The New Castle Board of Public Works approved a conflict of interest disclosure statement from York in April 2013 that detailed StarBurst's rental of the Wimmer facility. Henry County Prosecutor Joe Bergacs said that York had complied with necessary Indiana Code requirements.
StarBurst Manufacturing Director Eric Huffman said each pump unit is custom built for every wastewater treatment plant StarBurst services. Units have been sent to Ridgeville and Albany, as well. Some have been delivered for use as tools in research and development.
“It's a green way of doing things.” Huffman said. IDEM was impressed with the device, he added.
Kondo said his pump units are the first air-driven product that requires no maintenance. He estimates New Castle's wastewater treatment plant electricity savings may go as high as 92 percent.
Kondo said he applied for a patent on the device used in New Castle in March, 2013.
Another patent for a device called the Geyser pump under Kondo's name filed in 2011 is the subject of an intellectual property dispute in Columbus, Ohio, courts. The case is slated to go to trial in December, unless it is settled.
