Kodak Develops Better Flow Monitoring With Flo-Dar

Eastman Kodak Companyâs Rochester, NY location also known as Kodak Park (KP), produces nearly half of Kodakâs worldwide production of imaging materials. Approximately 1,000 types of film and 300 types of photographic paper are produced at this location. Kodak Park is the largest photographic product manufacturing facility in the world and the largest industrial complex in the northeastern United States.  The Kodak Park plant site is located on more than 1,300 acres and stretches for more than four miles through the City of Rochester and the Town of Greece.  Kodak Park has been called 'A City within a City.ä  It has 154 manufacturing buildings, nearly 30 miles of roads, two power plants, its own sewer system, and water treatment facilities.  

More than 200 people are employed at Kodak Park to work on health, safety and environmental programs. They ensure proper operation of the manufacturing and waste treatment facilities.  With over ten years of success at significantly reducing the plants impact on the environment, Kodak Park is again taking a leadership role with their new comprehensive five-year environmental management goals to be accomplished by the year 2004, including waste and water usage reductions. The diagram below shows the flow of chemicals through the plant and how waste chemicals are recycled or treated to minimize their impact on the environment.  The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) directs the environmental regulations in New York State that affect wastewater discharges at Kodak Park. 

Compared to the effluents from most other commercial wastewater discharges, the effluents from photo-processors are relatively low in volume.  Since photographic processing chemicals respond well to biological treatment they are considered to be acceptable for sewage treatment systems.  The Clean Water Act dictates the limits on the discharge of materials that the EPA has identified as pollutants. A discharge permit is required for the wastewater that first must be pretreated. Discharged wastewater is managed to minimize the volume of water as well as the quantity and toxicity of the pollutants.  

The Kings Landing Wastewater Purification Plant (KLWPP) has been in operation at Kodak Park since 1967. The plant has been regularly upgraded to meet the ever-changing discharge standards set under its state operating permit.  Since 1994, Kodak Park began a program to inspect, repair and upgrade 28 miles of industrial sewer lines running beneath Kodak Park.  Currently all industrial sewer lines containing hazardous wastes being carried from the plant to the WWTP have been inspected and repaired.  In 1999, a new industrial sewer chamber was constructed to improve the control of industrial sewer flow into the Kings Landing WPP.  Other efforts include the installation of impervious liners in the industrial sewer that will reduce the chance of future environmental releases from Kodak. 

In keeping with the Kodakâs high standards concerning environmental issues, an accurate flowmeter was required for the reporting of critical flow measurements for the Kings Landing WPP effluent channel. Glenn Perry, Engineering Technician at KLWPP explains that the Flo-Dar Flowmeter system was selected for itâs non-contact sensor capabilities, low maintenance (no submerged sensors subject to fouling in the flow) and the fact that it did not require factory calibration.  The Flo-Dar flowmeter was purchased to replace an existing submerged sensor-type flowmeter that required repeated maintenance due to sensor fouling.   

The sensor is installed over a large, 150-inch wide, rectangular channel.  A five-foot weir wall is approximately six feet upstream of the measuring point.  The flow travels over the weir wall, continues straight, bends 45¼, and finally drops 75 feet into an outfall pipe before it emptying into the Genesee river.

According to Glenn Perry, 'The non-contact feature captured it all for me.ä  Costly maintenance will be eliminated and the meter can be easily accessed if necessary.  While Kodak continuously works toward meeting their established environmental management goals including waste and water usage reduction, the Marsh-McBirney Flo-Dar flowmeter will also play an important role by accurately reporting flow measurements at the Kings Landing WWPP.