Wolverine World Wide, Inc.
Wastewater Treatment Plant Modification

Client

Situation

Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (Wolverine) owned and operated a pigskin tannery located in Rockford, Michigan. Wastewater generated from this facility is pretreated on-site and discharged to the City of Rockford sewer system. The City of Rockford sanitary sewer system discharges to the wastewater treatment plant via the North Kent sanitary sewer system.

The objective of the modifications to the Wolverine wastewater treatment plant was to reduce both on-site and off-site odors. Minimization of odors off-site was accomplished by improving the effluent quality by converting the plant to an activated sludge facility for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) removal and nitrification. This alleviated the loading of oxygen-depleting compounds (BOD and ammonia) to the North Kent sanitary sewer system.

Modification to the wastewater plant included the following:

• Segregation of in-tannery wastewater discharges
• Addition of a 350,000-gallon, variable-depth reactor for alkaline catalytic sulfide oxidation
• Construction of a new, covered, primary clarifier and chemical conditioning tanks
• Addition of covered, aerated, sludge-holding and sludge-conditioning tanks
• Conversion of an existing equalization tank to covered, activated sludge with jet aeration
• Conversion of an existing thickener to a final clarifier
• A new effluent flow metering station
• Addition of a 10,000-scfm, two-stage odor control scrubber
• Replacement of electrical service, motor control center (MCC), and instrumentation systems

The project required significant coordination and sequencing to allow for the continued treatment of wastewater while modifying existing tanks and systems.

Solution/Services

R&W performed the preliminary engineering work, including the treatability work related to sulfide oxidation. As part of the preliminary engineering effort, cost estimates were developed for the proposed modifications. Following approval of the preliminary design and cost estimate, R&W was retained to design the improvements.

Wolverine utilized in-house staff to provide construction management services for the project implementation. R&W worked with Wolverine to perform the construction management of the project. Major equipment purchases were bid and pre-ordered for installation by subcontractors. R&W prepared multiple contracts, bid, and executed for the modifications to the wastewater plant.

Project Schedule/Cost

R&W fees for this project totaled approximately $450,000.