From engineering company to manufacturer of decentralized wastewater treatment plants...
In 2005, the sales team for small wastewater treatment plants, lead by civil engineer Carsten Ruck, had an idea: They would use the experience in consulting and service in the field of decentralized wastewater treatment they had gained in the past 6 years to develop their own wastewater treatment plant for private homes and manufacture it themselves.
Finally, the decision for the foundation of a new company was taken due to a simple reason: The available solutions in the market at the time where not satisfactory, at all. The pits where mostly made of heavy conrete, difficult in handling and more often than not leaving the customer with a ruined backyard after the installation. Even worse: Pits from pre-cast concrete elements where difficult to be built completely watertight and the construction was hindered by the high groundwater levels in northern Germany. New technologies, like SBR had entered the market but, in practice, where not keeping up with the expectations.
Having worked with all different types of treatment technologies and maintained plants of all manufacturers in the market, all flaws and weak points of the existing products where known and the distinction between adecuate and non-adecuate processes fairly easy. After the strict selection process, the choice was clear: The submerged and aerated fixed-bed biofilm was a mature and well-proven technology. It guarantees a very stable treatment quality, even in underload scenarios, the most common case in the decentralized treatment of wastewater from private households.
After the selection of the process, the design and production of a suitable tank was the logical next step. It should be suitable for all kinds of different ground conditions on site (i.e. suitable for the installation in ground water, connectable to deep lying pipe connections, suitable for installation with little space, etc.). At the same time, it should guarantee an easy maintenance and an operation without failure of the installed fixed-bed technology.
As a first start, a standard one chamber PEHD tank was retrofit to a 4-chamber tank by manually equipping it with devider walls using hand-held welding torches. That way, two pre-treatment chambers, the bioreactor and the secondary clarifier could be contained within a single tank. The idea took off and with rising revenue, the idea of an industrial production process to produce multi-chamber tanks as a monoliths was born. The development of the DELPHIN® compact was started in 2006 and became a success story immediately after the serial production had been implemented. The completely pre-installed plant in one single tank was easy and quick to install without leaving a mess and the robust middle chamber containing the fixed-bed in the center directly underneath the manhole made the maintenance really conveniant.
DELPHIN® compact has stayed our best-selling product, eversince. We have exported it to various countries and recently the first licensed production in Saudi Arabia has been established to serve the demand of the Saudi Arabian market. The diversity of application and depth of engineering detail was improved continuously in close relation with our distribution partners until our high expectations regarding quality and longevity of the product were to our complete satisfaction.
Apart from the substantial product range DELPHIN® compact in the field of small wastewater treatment plants for private households, two further product lines where developped and named DELPHIN® combi and DELPHIN® container.
The product line DELPHIN® combi is larger and meant for treatment capacities above an equivalent connected population of 50 PE. It also consists of rotomoulded tanks which are connected in series in a modular fashion. As an export hit, we send this type of plant around the world, where it is installed in a matter of a few days, in many cases by our distribution partners.
DELPHIN® container plants are the consistent evolution of our treatment solutions in PE tanks, in this case installed in a standard freight container to form a mobile treatment plant. These plants leave our factory completely pre-installed ready for commissioning and are easily transported to all parts of the world.
Due to the growing demand for space of production, Delphin Water Systems had to move several times until the decision was taken to invest in the construction of their own large construction hall with integrated offices. The move in summer 2017 was an important step and marks the beginning of a new era in the history of the company. The new facility in Buxtehude in the south-west of Hamburg offers sufficient space for production and storage and keeps options for further expansion open.
The trademark DELPHIN® stands for wastewater treatment technology with minimal effort for installation and operation as well as highest expectations regarding longevity and performance.
History
| Juli 2005 | Foundation of Delphin Water Systems GmbH & Co. KG in Buxtehude, start of development of the small WWTP DELPHIN® compact Project based production of mobile treatment plants in containers. Production at the registered company adress in Buxtehude, administration and engineering in Hamburg-Harburg |
| 2008 | Transfer of seat of business to Hamburg and joining of production and administration at the new HQ in Hamburg-Stellingen Start of serial production of DELPHIN compact and systematic distribution in Germany |
| 2011 | Move to bigger production facilities in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg |
| 2015 | Start of the cooperation with our Saudi partner and licensing of DELPHIN compact for the Saudi Arabian market |
| 2017 | Beginning of construction of the new production and administration facility in Ovelgönne/Buxtehude and transfer of seat of company to Buxtehude in Juli 2017 Start of production of DELPHIN® compact in Saudi Arabia Start of production of the evolution of the DELPHIN® combi series in a newly developped cubic tank => DELPHIN® cube |
