Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1040774
26 | NOVEMBER 2018 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk Innovation Zone Maximising value from sludge SmartCycle PSA (ETW Energietechnik) German company ETW Energietechnik developed the SmartCycle PSA technology to improve the purity of biogas while offering extremely low energy consumption. It makes use of pressure swing adsorption (PSA), a decades-old technology used for the separation of gases – for example, separating carbon dioxide from biogas to increase the methane ratio. ETW Energietechnik sought to optimise the PSA technology, creating a system whereby the plant can automatically adjust the pressure swing cycles to a varying inlet gas quality and volume flow, enabling total control over the outlet gas purity – which reaches over 99 per cent – or the desired heating value. The company says the technology is of particular use to waste and sewage treatment plant operators, which have to contend with fluctuating biogas qualities and flows, with the smart process control able to react even to large changes without any loss in yield or quality of the biomethane produced. ETW Energietechnik says the biogas upgrading system is "designed to grant very long equipment lifetimes" and that the energy consumption level of 0.14 KWh/Nm³ represents "an enormous step in innovation with large economic benefits". Package Exelys (Veolia Water Technologies) Veolia's Exelys is a continuous sludge-reduction solution that combines thermal hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion that produces up to 35 per cent less dry matter than conventional digestion and up to 50 per cent more biogas with no odours. As a continuous rather than a batch process, it can treat up to three times more sludge solids than a batch reactor of the same size. Package Exelys offers the same benefits but in a mobile container facility, providing a plug-and-play solution for small to medium thermal hydrolysis plants, with a maximum capacity of 12,000 tDS/y. The Package Exelys range features four standard plants, assembled offsite on skids, that can handle up to 30 tonnes per day or dry solids. The plants include feed sludge heating and steam injection equipment. There is also the option to add a waste heat recovery boiler to to minimise the steam consumption and increase the biogas available for electricity production or bio-methane injection in the grid. To find out more about innova- tive bioresources technologies, attend the WWT Wastewater Conference in Birmingham on 31 January 2019. For more information, visit: event.ww- tonline.co.uk/wastewater