Article highlights how equipment selection, predictive maintenance and gas-handling strategy work together to lower life cycle cost in wastewater treatment facilities
GREENSBORO, N.C.: Patrick Dorn, a sales engineer at Mills-Winfield Engineering Sales, Inc., was recently featured in Pumps & Systems, a leading trade publication for pump users worldwide, in an article examining how wastewater treatment facilities can lower long-term operating costs by taking a more integrated approach to equipment selection and maintenance.
The article, titled “Optimizing Pumping & Process Equipment in Wastewater Treatment,” published August 18, 2026, walks through the coordinated network of pumps, mixers, blowers and gas-handling systems that keep treatment plants running, from influent handling and primary clarification through biological treatment and sludge processing.
Matching Equipment to Process Conditions
Dorn’s article emphasizes that equipment selection should start with a clear picture of process conditions rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Centrifugal pumps tend to perform well in high-flow, low-viscosity applications, while positive displacement pumps often hold up better for sludge handling and higher-viscosity fluids where consistent flow under varying pressure matters most. System design factors, including solids loading, flow variability, turndown requirements and redundancy, round out the decision, since plants built with the right margins are better able to hold steady as conditions shift.
Predictive Maintenance as a Reliability Strategy
The piece also addresses reliability, noting that rotating equipment in wastewater environments faces constant mechanical and process stress, with seal degradation, bearing wear, impeller damage and fouling among the most common failure modes. Dorn points to predictive maintenance, such as vibration analysis, thermal monitoring and performance trending, as a way to catch early signs of wear and shift maintenance schedules from fixed intervals to actual equipment condition, reducing unplanned downtime in the process.
Air, Gas Handling and Energy Recovery
A significant portion of the article is devoted to aeration and gas handling, two of the most energy-intensive parts of the treatment process. Dorn explains that blower performance, airflow control and equipment sizing all directly affect treatment efficiency, and that even small inefficiencies in piping configuration or diffuser effectiveness can add up to meaningful energy costs. The article also covers digester gas compression, noting that biogas produced during anaerobic digestion presents handling challenges, including moisture, corrosive compounds and variable composition, that make equipment like wet gas (liquid ring) compressors well suited for energy recovery through combined heat and power systems.
Balancing Efficiency and Reliability
Throughout the article, Dorn frames energy efficiency and reliability as interconnected rather than competing priorities. As he puts it in the article, “efficiency must be balanced with reliability,” since systems optimized purely for energy performance can end up lacking the robustness needed for long-term operation. He advocates for a holistic view of both liquid- and gas-handling systems that positions facilities to manage life cycle cost while adapting to evolving regulatory and energy demands.
You can read the full article, “Optimizing Pumping & Process Equipment in Wastewater Treatment,” on Pumps & Systems.
About Mills-Winfield Engineering Sales, Inc.
Mills-Winfield Engineering Sales, Inc. represents and supports process equipment, including pumps, mixers, blowers and gas-handling systems, for industrial and municipal customers, with particular expertise in wastewater treatment applications. The company’s engineering team works with plant operators to select, maintain and optimize equipment for long-term reliability and reduced life cycle cost. Learn more at mills-winfield.com.
About Pumps & Systems
Pumps & Systems is a trade publication serving pump users, engineers and plant managers across industrial and municipal markets, with coverage spanning equipment selection, maintenance, energy efficiency and system design. The magazine is published by Cahaba Media Group, a publisher of industrial trade media based in Homewood, Alabama. Learn more at pumpsandsystems.com.