The ALASKAPAK Sewage Plant
Alaska Designed – Alaska Built – Alaska Proven
Healthy living solutions for rural communities

   •  Innovative Arctic Technology
   •  Environmental Benefits
   •  Flexible Applications
   •  ALASKAPAK Special Features
   •  The ALASKAPAK Creator

Innovative Arctic Technology
The ALASKAPAK is the self-contained sewage treatment plant manufactured by STEELFAB for over 30 years. Its simple components are specifically designed and proven to work for Alaskans in the most extreme conditions. STEELFAB has pioneered many Arctic modifications specific to Arctic and sub-Arctic conditions. Each self-contained unit is non-septic and essentially free of noxious gases and odors.

While the standard design remains the same, the ALASKAPAK can be custom tailored to meet customers' special requirements. They can be linked together in many configurations to meet any type of size or demand. Special order parts include surge compartments; aerobic digesters; slug dischargers with digital slug counters; skid beams; grinding/metering pumps; safety steps and hand rails for operators; sampling ports, and air diffusers.

Environmental Benefits
Independent laboratory tests proved the ALASKAPAK reduces organic matter consistently well below the requirements set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, for quality of effluent from secondary treatment of domestic wastewater. Effluents are clean enough to be discharged into streams, so leeching fields are not required.

Simply designed, with basically just on and off switches, the ALASKAPAK uses no complicated controls panel or hazardous chemicals. It incorporates state-of-the-art technology developed specifically for Arctic conditions.

Flexible Applications
An ALASKAPAK can be used for other things besides sewage treatment. They can be custom designed for:

• Water treatment and storage (even from snow melt);
• Incineration units;
  
• Launderette and shower components;
  
• Flush toilets;
  
• Peak use rates for different seasons;
  
• Almost any number of people;
  
• Remote locations: the military; construction camps; hunting and fishing lodges, and schools and villages all benefit from this versatile product, and
  
• Ideal for emergency and catastrophic planning.

STEELFAB will manufacture, install, train, sell or lease ALASKAPAK plants. We work with our customers to meet your individual needs.

Because STEELFAB has full steel fabrication capabilities, each ALASKAPAK can be "packaged" into small plants, complete with tanks, plumbing, electrical, pumps and control that can fit into a Hercules airplane when required. Plants for large communities are then installed together on site. The ALASKAPAK can be transported either by trailer, barge or air to any site.

ALASKAPAK'S Special Features

• Large surge department, metered for the most efficient transfer
• Aerobic digester that reduces sludge and can be used as an excess solids holding tank
• Improved clarifier with an overflow rate about one-third less than other manufacturers (this allows for better settling and an almost clear effluent)
• Adjustable collecting trough (found only in the ALASKAPAK) that can always be leveled, regardless of the ground conditions
• The simplest and most efficient chlorinating system on the market
• Digital slug discharge meter that collects and discharges 100 gallons in a single slug
• Warm water always in the effluent pipe so water doesn't freeze between slugs
• Digital counter operated by float arm so accurate account of sewage flow can be kept
• Grinding and metering pumps in each surge department
• Sutorbilt air blowers that are tested under load before installation
• Duplicate pumps provided for every essential operation
• Supplies, test kits and hand tools provided with each plant
• Training for the few, simple steps required to operate an ALASKAPAK

The ALASKAPAK Creator,
Vincent J. Doran, Consultant
In addition to consulting on technical designs, like pressure vessels and tanks, Vince Doran is the creator of the ALASKAPAK, the only extended aeration sewage treatment plant with modifications specific to Arctic conditions currently on the market.

Doran's Arctic adaptations to a basic design created a product that is unmatched for quality and dependability. It also earned him a dedication in the Extended Aeration Package Treatment Plant Handbook, published by the Independent Northern Testing Laboratories, Inc. His reputation at problem solving has grown so that not a week goes by without a call from a sewage plant operator in a remote location, asking for advice–most often on plants that weren't fabricated by STEELFAB.

A world war and piloting a B-17 bomber out of England interrupted Doran's engineering studies at Gonzaga University. After the war was won, he completed a degree in Philosophy and headed north to Alaska.

Doran was named a consultant to STEELFAB in 1988, after managing the company for 25 years for the former owner. His deep professionalism and his determination to do a job the best way possible makes him a valued member of the STEELFAB team.

    An ALASKAPAK system
    under construction at STEELFAB

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