Development of Chemical Precipitation Purchased 

Equipment Costs: Clarifiers 

 

 

The following email supports EPA’s development of purchased equipment cost equations for 

clarifiers by documenting EPA's communication with a vendor regarding freight costs for 

flocculating clarifiers. The same freight cost was applied to solids contact clarifiers used in the 

Steam Electric cost model. 
From: "Rasmussen, David C (WT)" <david.rasmussen@siemens.com> 

To: "Kavya Kasturi" <Kavya.Kasturi@erg.com> 

Date: 4/19/2011 3:10 PM 

Subject: RE: Vendor request-Solids contact clarifiers 

Figure $3,000 to get all the components to the site. 

________________________________ 

From: Kavya Kasturi [mailto:Kavya.Kasturi@erg.com] 

Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 2:49 PM 

To: Rasmussen, David C (WT) 

Subject: RE: Vendor request-Solids contact clarifiers 

Thanks Dave! This is great! One (hopefully) final question: can you 

provide weights for the clarifiers or the cost to ship a clarifier 500 

miles? 

 

Thanks again, 

Kavya 

 

Kavya P. Kasturi, Environmental Engineer 

Eastern Research Group, Inc. 

Phone: (703) 633-1701 

Fax: (703) 263-7280 

kavya.kasturi@erg.com 

>>> "Rasmussen, David C (WT)" <david.rasmussen@siemens.com> 4/19/2011 

2:53 PM >>> 

 

Kavya: 

 

FEDWA brochure attached. 

 

The only other item you would need would be effluent weirs. Usually made 

from fiberglass. Figure for budget costs - tank diameter (ft.) x 3.146 x 

$50 /ft. 

 

Need anything else? 

 

Dave R 

 

 

________________________________ 

From: Kavya Kasturi [mailto:Kavya.Kasturi@erg.com] 

Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2011 2:48 PM 

To: Rasmussen, David C (WT) 

Subject: RE: Vendor request-Solids contact clarifiers 

Hi Dave, 

 

Thanks for much for the information! This will be very helpful for our 

costing effort. I have a couple follow up questions: 

 

Is there any ancillary equipment required for the clarifier and/or 

included in the cost estimate? 

 

Also, is there any marketing material or brochures you could send me on 

the FEDWA baffling system? 

 

Thanks again for your help! 

 

Kavya 
Kavya P. Kasturi, Environmental Engineer 

Eastern Research Group, Inc. 

Phone: (703) 633-1701 

Fax: (703) 263-7280 

kavya.kasturi@erg.com 

>>> "Rasmussen, David C (WT)" 04/15/11 3:03 PM >>> 

 

Kavya: 

 

Sorry for the delay. 

 

For flocculating clarifiers I would assume 500 g/d/ft2 hydraulic 

loading. I'm also assuming a very low G (less than 40-sec) for this 

application. With that assumption I would use our FEDWA baffling system 

to flocculate. 

 

Breaking the flows into three ranges - 

 

 Up to 100,000 gpd 100,000 - 500,000 

gpd 500,000 - 1,000,000 gpd 

 

Clarifier size - 

 

 20' diameter 35' 

diameter 50' diameter 

 

Cost of mechanism 

 

 $60,000 

$80,000 $120,000 

 

Each mechanism drive unit uses a 1/2 hp motor, no other power 

consumption. 

 

Anything else? 

 

Dave Rasmussen 

 

 

________________________________ 

From: Kavya Kasturi [mailto:Kavya.Kasturi@erg.com] 

Sent: Friday, April 08, 2011 3:05 PM 

To: Rasmussen, David C (WT) 

Subject: Re: Vendor request-Solids contact clarifiers 

Hi Dave, 

 

I hadn't seen any cost estimates for flocculating clarifiers come 

through yet. Do you think you'll still be able to get me some estimates 

soon? I really appreciate your help! 

 

Thanks, 

Kavya 

 

Kavya P. Kasturi, Environmental Engineer 

Eastern Research Group, Inc. 

Phone: (703) 633-1701 

Fax: (703) 263-7280 

kavya.kasturi@erg.com 

>>> Rekha Hareendran 3/9/2011 2:17 PM >>> 
Hi Dave, 

 

My name is Rekha Hareendran of Eastern Research Group, Inc., a 

contractor to the USEPA supporting the development of effluent 

guidelines for the steam electric power industry. 

 

As I mentioned during our conversation, we are working on conceptual 

level costing of a chemical precipitation wastewater treatment system to 

treat FGD (flue gas desulfurization) wastewater from steam electric 

power plants. As a part of this project, we are trying to collect cost 

information on different components or units of a chemical precipitation 

system. 

 

I would really appreciate it if you could provide us the purchase cost, 

cost for ancillary equipments and the power consumption for the 

following clarifier types over the flow ranges listed below. 

 

-Clarifier Type : Solids contact primary and secondary clarifiers. 

 

-Flow range : 30,000 gpd- 1,000,000 gpd (Please provide cost 

estimates for various flow rates in this range). 

 

If any of this information is considered confidential business 

information (CBI), do not send a written response via e-mail. Instead, 

please call me or Kavya directly to discuss the details. 

Please let me know if you have any further questions. I look forward to 

hearing from you. 

 

-Thanks, 

Rekha Hareendran 

Phone: (703) 633-1610 

 

Kavya P. Kasturi, 

Phone: (703) 633-1701