WET News

4 WET NEWS SEPTEMBER 2018 | wwtonline.co.uk NEWS+ Severn Trent Water joins European wastewater recycling collaboration • Partners from the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and Holland exploring opportunities to make most of sewage S evern Trent has joined a consortium of companies from across Europe to launch 'Project WOW!', an inno- vation project concentrating on how to recover maximum value from wastewater. Sewage contains valuable sub- stances that can be used as raw materials for bio-based products, and considerable opportunities are emerging in the UK and across North-West Europe to exploit this resource. Using the materials from 'waste' and transitioning to a more circular approach in the water sector can help protect and preserve the Earth's natural resources. Project WOW! is an Interreg North-West Europe project, with the title standing for 'Wider business Opportunities for raw materials from Waste- water'. It aims to make the cir- cular economy transition by developing value chains for three different raw materials from sewage: cellulose, PHA/ bioplastics and lipids. To realise the market oppor- tunity, sewage treatment plants and industries requiring materi- als for their production process need to be better aligned. clean water for return to the environment or for societal use, but also to become 'facto- ries' recovering valuable mate- rials and energy. Pete Vale, Severn Trent's representative on the project, said: "This calls for a change in mindset: sewage treatment plants need not only to recycle "And industry, for example the chemical and agricultural industry, need to think differ- ently about sewage, for example as a valuable source of material Irish Water invests €14M in Bandon WwTP upgrade I rish Water, in partnership with Cork County Council, is investing €14 million to upgrade the Bandon Wastewa- ter Treatment Plant. The Bandon Wastewater Treat- ment Plant Upgrade Project will provide enhanced treatment of wastewater from the town, ensur- ing that discharges from the plant comply with environmental legis- lation. This will result in improve- ments to water quality in the Ban- don River, protecting aquatic life and bringing health and environ- mental benefits to the entire community. Bandon also has a history of flooding as a result of high flows in the Bandon River exceeding the channel capacity. The con- struction of a new storm pump- ing station as part of the upgrade works will help allevi- ate this potential flood risk for low-lying areas in the Bandon catchment. A contract has been signed with EPS to carry out the work, which will involve upgrades at the treatment plant and at the Glasslinn Road Pumping Station. The project will involve the installation of new equipment at the treatment plant, along with new pipelines, stormwater storage tank, odour treatment facilities, an electrical substa- tion and other ancillary site works. In addition, new waste- water and stormwater pumping stations will be installed at Glasslinn Pumping Station, along with new pipelines, gen- erator, control buildings and an electrical substation. Mark Murray, Irish Water's infrastructure programme man- ager, said: "This project will ensure that there is adequate treatment capacity within the plant to meet the needs of the area and facilitate social and eco- nomic growth. Cleaner water will enhance the river's amenity value and act as a platform for social and economic development. "It will also ensure that there is effective management of the wastewater treatment process to protect the environment and public health." The work is due to get under- way in the coming weeks and is expected to take approximately 20 months in total. Yorkshire uses 'no- dig' technology on gravity-fed sewers Southern installs innovative MBR at Woolston WwtW Y orkshire Water has tri- alled a world-first 'no dig' gravity-fed sewer lining system to increase the lifespan of its underground sewers by up to 50 years. The technology is expected to save the firm around £1.25 million over five years by renewing large sections of its underground gravity-fed sewer infrastructure without having to replace it. It consists of a carbon fibre spray lining application that rapidly sets to create a 'pipe within a pipe', creating a 2mm thick extra layer of structural integrity that pro- tects against groundwater infiltration. The technology can also be applied without having to dig up the road surface, which will result in fewer road clo- sures and traffic disruptions. Mark Gregory, project man- ager at Yorkshire Water, said: "We have previously carried out successful trials with this technology on our water mains and sewers, but this is a world first in terms of using S outhern Water has installed an "innovative and techno- logically advanced" new membrane biological reactor (MBR) in Southampton. As part of the redevelopment of its multi-million-pound Woolston treatment works, the company has installed the MBR filtration system to treat wastewater on site. This new ultra-filtration system is expected to remove close to 100 per cent of all bacteria and solids, ensuring any water released from the treatment works into the envi- ronment meets the EU Bathing Water directive relating to bacte- ria counts for E. coli and intesti- nal Enterococci. Southern Water project man- ager Richard Hodgson said: "The MBR is one of many innovative and technologically advanced improvements made at Woolston to ensure the resilience of the wastewater treatment works lasts long into the future. "This ensures Southern Water maintains its obligations to the Environment Agency and contin- ues on the journey of providing our customers the most efficient it specifically for gravity-fed sewers. "The spray liner has proved itself to be a highly cost- effective effective and inno- vative way to renew ageing infrastructure. "By applying this technol- ogy, we will substantially reduce the risk of failure to our ageing underground assets and also improve the life span by 50 years." Yorkshire Water plans to initially use the new technol- ogy on vulnerable rising main sewers and, following a review, aim to examine future applications on its waste water network and its poten- tial to be used on the clean water network. The technology has been developed by Axalta Coating Systems and applied by SCHUR Ltd and Peter Duffy Ltd, based in Wakefield. Yorkshire Water is working closely with the public health and safety organisation known as NSF-WRc to estab- lish industry standards for use of the new technology. and effective wastewater treatment works at Woolston. The MBR is an innovative use of the advancing technology of ultra-filtration and biological treatment." The MBR is made up of an eight-lane structure, with each lane containing five modules. These modules contain 36 rows each with eight bundles, and each bundle contains 336 two- meter long membrane fibres. The Woolston MBR has 3.87 million membrane fibres, with a length of over 7,741km. The ultra-filtration is carried out by passing the wastewater over the 3.87 million membrane fibres and using pumps to draw the wastewater through its pores. It then uses a system known as PULSION, which passes a bubble or 'pulse' of air up through the membrane fibres, constantly removing any accumulated sludge out of the modules. Chemical cleaning cycles are then carried out every couple of days to limit microbiological growth on the membranes. The redevelopment scheme at Woolston is scheduled to finish in September 2019. Attendees at the launch event for Project WOW! rather than 'dirty unsafe water'. Last but not least, regulation should better fit this new circu- lar practice. "The project will identify high potential value chains for raw materials from sewage; develop a decision support tool that guides sewage treatment plants in their journey towards a circu- lar approach; build and run three WOW! pilots to optimise and implement innovative recovery and upcycling tech- niques; create bio-products such as bioplastics, biofuel and bio-char; and create national policy action plans and an EU policy roadmap." In June, partners from the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Lux- embourg and the Netherlands gathered for the kick-off meet- ing as they planned the delivery of the project. Vale added: "Our role is to focus on the development of the decision support tool; host learn- ing visits at our Spernal resource recovery test bed site for other wastewater treatment plant oper- ators across North-West Europe; develop the project's communica- tion strategy; develop a stake- holder network group; and con- duct UK market analysis reviewing opportunities and con- straints around regulatory issues and product standards. "We are looking forward to a fruitful collaboration."

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