Case Studies

Storing surplus energy from on-site solar panels at one of NI’s largest water treatment plants is a vital step in NI Water’s journey to net zero

Installation of the UK’s first containerised mid-process hydroelectric turbine on a wastewater treatment works

The Ards Peninsula is a scenic area in County Down, situated on the north-east coast of Northern Ireland. It separates Strangford Lough from the north channel of the Irish Sea and its coastal towns and villages are popular with day trippers and caravanners alike. By 2020, the wastewater treatment works serving the villages of Carrowdore […]

Ballygowan is a small village situated in County Down, within the Ards & North Down Borough Council area. The towns of Comber and Saintfield are both approximately 4 miles to the north-east, and to the south respectively, with the city of Belfast 7 miles north-west. The 2021 Census indicates that the population of Ballygowan is […]

Deephams Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is located in Edmonton, North London. In November 2018, Thames Water Utilities Limited (TWUL) issued take-over to the AECOM, Murphy, and Kier (AMK) joint venture for the replacement of the entire sewage treatment stream. The project increased the treatment capacity to 989,000 population equivalent and met the new final effluent […]

Finham STW, situated near Coventry in the West Midlands, is Severn Trent’s fifth largest wastewater treatment works and treats over 115 megalitres of effluent a day from half a million people. The works processes indigenous sludge on site as well as accepting exports from local, satellite sites, producing final effluent, ‘cake’ and biogas as outputs. […]

Goddards Green Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) is a Sludge Treatment Centre (STC) located near Burgess Hill in West Sussex. The catchment serves the towns of Burgess Hill, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint and surrounding villages, providing for 54,789 people. The project implements an innovative approach to mitigate the likely odour from the processes at the WwTW to prevent […]

Built in the 1970s, Ballykelly WwTW was designed to serve a population of just under 8,000. However, the closure of the nearby army barracks in 2008 meant the population was halved to around 3,600, leaving the works both biologically and hydraulically oversized. A hybrid solution, comprising conventional and natural wastewater treatment processes, was designed for […]

Stoke Bardolph Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is Severn Trent’s second largest STW and serves a population of c. 620,000. The site is also a major regional sludge centre, meaning it takes a high volume of sludge imports from other sites in the region. Stoke Bardolph has a sludge treatment capacity equivalent to a population of […]

Strongford STW is a major sewage treatment works serving the population equivalent of circa 350,000 from Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent. The site’s sludge treatment facility provides a major centre for regional operations. Based on a forecast increase in population, it was identified that an increase in treatment capacity would be required to accommodate the local growth. […]

As the UK’s largest listed water company, United Utilities aspires to ensure resilience of its network to the effects of climate change, improving the quality of wastewater effluent and providing a reliable and wholesome drinking water supply to its customers. To help drive greater efficiency and innovation in its network, United Utilities appointed Costain as […]

Welsh Water’s sludge strategy is to treat 97% of sludge using advanced anaerobic digestion (AAD) technology. The Cog Moors AAD facility was constructed to supplement the existing facilities at Cardiff and Afan in South Wales along with the recently constructed Five Fords facility in North Wales. AAD gives the benefits of: Meeting the Enhanced Sludge […]

Constructed in 1991, the existing Withernsea Sewage Treatment Works (STW) lies 2km south of the East Yorkshire coastal resort town of Withernsea and was built circa 180m from the cliff edge with an expected asset life in excess of 60 years. Since 1998, coastal erosion rates in the area have increased significantly from historic levels, […]

Sludge treatment in the Huddersfield area was previously provided by incineration at Calder Valley Incinerator, located at Yorkshire Water’s Upper Brighouse Site. This incinerator has been inoperable since a weather event in 2015. Following a strategic review, Yorkshire Water Services (YWS) decided to progress with conventional mesophilic anaerobic digestion (MAD) plant supported by lime sanitisation […]

Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) have two sludge treatments centres, at Bran Sands STW on Teesside and at Howdon STW on Tyneside, which together process 100% of the sewage sludge arising from within its operating region, using an advanced anaerobic digestion (AAD) process. The resultant renewable biogas is converted into biomethane for export to grid. The […]

Located to the east of Stafford, Severn Trent’s Brancote Sewage Treatment Works (STW) catchment will see an increase in population from 78,075 current population equivalent (PE) to 85,532 by 2028. The site is split into two distinct areas with the STW processing the sewage flows from within its own catchment and the sludge treatment centre […]

The advanced anaerobic digestion (AAD) plant at Howdon STW includes 3 (No.) MWM gas engines that were commissioned in September 2013. The engines originally used biogas from the digestion process as fuel to produce steam for the thermal hydrolysis plant and generate electricity. The electricity generated by the engines when running on renewable biogas is […]

Huddersfield Energy and Recycling Facility (Huddersfield E&RF) is in Mirfield on Yorkshire Water’s Upper Brighouse site. The project involved the demolition of the existing incinerator and construction of a new mesophilic anaerobic digestion facility that will produce electricity; equivalent to powering 5280 homes once it is fully operational. The primary drivers for the scheme were: […]

The Coleshill Food Waste Anaerobic Digestion Plant processes 48,500 tonnes per annum of food waste collected generally within 30 miles of the site. The site has been in continuous operation since January 2015 when it first received commercial customers. It is currently estimated that this project can deliver 5.5GWh per annum (electrical equivalence) of new […]

Over the last two decades the concept of municipal sewage being an expensive to treat waste stream has slowly become surpassed by renewable and sustainable opportunities that re-label wastewater treatment works as water resource recovery facilities (WRRF), sludge recycling centres (SRC) or sludge treatment facilities (STF) to name but a few. Incentivised by UK Government, […]

Ashford Wastewater Treatment Works is located in Kent alongside the M20 motorway, near the River Great Stour to the South of the Kent Downs (Area of Natural Beauty). The Town of Ashford has a population of approximately 110,000 people. The WwTW serves Ashford and surrounding areas and is supplied by five local pumping stations taking […]

The Yorkshire Water sewage sludge incinerator at Knostrop WwTW is approaching the end of its asset life in AMP7. This, along with high operating costs has driven a business need to review the long-term treatment of sludges in the Yorkshire/Leeds catchment. Following a strategy review, Yorkshire Water Services (YWS) decided to progress with conventional mesophilic […]

Minworth STW is Severn Trent’s largest sewage treatment works and serves a population equivalent of 1.75 million from Birmingham with full flow to treatment of 1,070Ml/d. The works treats sludge arising from a population equivalent of 2.3 million which is made up of indigenous sludge plus imported sludge from the nearby Coleshill STW and various […]

Welsh Water is committed to reducing its carbon footprint and protecting the environment from the effects of climate change and is pursuing measures to generate more of its own power from renewable sources. Welsh Water recently signed a five-year contract with Dong Energy to supply green energy to power its sites, as well as introducing […]

Welsh Water set out its vision in its Sewage Sludge Strategy 2040 how it intended to deal with the number one waste management challenge all water utility providers face, the sustainable management and disposal of wastewater sludges. With ever tightening nutrient and heavy metal limits on agricultural usage, and more pressure than ever for companies […]

In August 2010, Severn Trent commissioned its energy crop anaerobic digestion plant at Stoke Bardolph, Nottingham. It was built to help power the nearby sewage treatment works using crops grown on contaminated farmland which is not suitable for food production. The energy crop plant was sized to convert 37,000 tonnes of maize silage each year […]

Strongford STW is located at the north west end of Severn Trent’s region and covers a significant catchment in and around Stoke-on-Trent with a population equivalent of 350,000. The Strongford digestion plant currently processes 34 tonnes dry solid per day (tds/day) indigenous; and 14 tds/day liquid imports which includes 7 tds/day from the recently closed […]

Wessex Water’s Bristol STW is the largest sewage treatment works within south west region, serving approximately a catchment of 1.1 million people. The works also accounts for more than 50% of region’s sludge treatment. It treats around 100 tonnes dry solid (TDS) per day of indigenous sludge as well as imported sludge to a compliant […]

The Basingstoke Sludge Treatment Centre (STC) incorporates liquid and caked, raw sludge import facilities together with thermal hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion plant which will process 53tDS/day of sludge from Basingstoke, Farnham, Fleet, Guilford and Newbury. This will fulfil Thames Water’s strategy to cease unsustainable liming activities at the four satellite sites up to the 2036 […]

Howden Reservoir is the first of three reservoirs owned by Severn Trent Water in the Upper Derwent Valley. The reservoir is bounded at its southern end by Howden Dam which impounds the River Derwent and overflows to Derwent Reservoir which in turn overflows to Ladybower Reservoir. Work commenced on the dam’s construction on 16 July […]

South West Water (SWW) has an ODI target to supply 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. This translates to a volume target of 50GWh renewable output within the final year of K6. This project will contribute 9.4GWh towards this 50GWh target by 2020 by optimising six sludge treatment centres (STCs), which operate […]

Minworth STW is Severn Trent Water’s largest sewage treatment works and serves a population equivalent of 1.75 million from Birmingham with full flow to treatment of 1,070Ml/d. The works treats sludge arising from a population equivalent of 2.3 million which is made up of indigenous sludge plus imported sludge from the nearby Coleshill STW and […]

Mogden Sewage Treatment Works is the second largest in the UK. The first phase was built between 1931 and 1935 at a cost of £1.7 million and covers an area of 55 hectares. The facility treats wastewater from a population equivalent of 1.9 million across a 60 square mile catchment area of north and west […]

The concept of sewage treatment plants as energy factories originated in the Netherlands in the early 2000s, and Sweco (formally Grontmij) was a founder member of the Dutch-led ‘Energy Factory’ projects. Sweco then expanded the potential benefits, prompting a 2012 rebrand to ‘The ReGenerator® Concept’. The ReGenerator® methodology sees Sweco sourcing new pan-European sustainable technologies […]

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) is investing in technologies to generate electricity on its sites in order to reduce their carbon footprint and the amount of imported energy. DCWW has already implemented technologies including solar photovoltaic panels, hydro turbines and gas-to-grid; however the new wind turbine at Swansea is their first wind generation site. Swansea […]

Davyhulme WwTW is the location for United Utilities’ sludge balanced asset programme (SBAP) facility. This centralised treatment hub for sludge processes all of the indigenous sludge from Davyhulme which serves over one million people along with sludge imports from other United Utilities WwTWs. The centralisation of sludge treatment at Davyhulme has taken place through a […]

Five Fords WwTW is a sewage works just outside Wrexham in north-east Wales blending passive and activated sludge treatment. The works is named because there are five fords crossing the River Clywedog (Afon Clywedog) locally. The works covers a large area of land and is neighbour to fields leased to local farmers. The sewage treatment […]

Innovative scheme at Borders college campus in Galashiels to supply 1.8GWh of heat per annum

The Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) Howdon site, located on the banks of the River Tyne to the east of Newcastle is the largest sewage treatment works on the eastern coast of England. The plant is capable of treating in excess of 40,000 TDS/annum of indigenous and imported sludge using a Cambi Advanced Anaerobic Digestion (AAD) […]

GENeco gas to grid scheme at Bristol STW

£16m of improvements to sludge digestion facilities

Improving the efficiency of energy generation from sewage sludge by cleaning and injecting biogas into the National Grid network

Studies have demonstrated that Great Britain has a globally significant tidal energy potential. Harnessing this natural resource and making tidal energy cost effective, and therefore attractive to investors, is now the marine energy industry’s primary challenge. The Tidal Energy Converter (TEC) project is run by the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI). Cost of energy (CoE) is […]

Advanced sludge digestion facility (ESDF) powers up at Beckton and Crossness

Advancing the frontiers of enhanced digestion treatment

Installation of three new combined heat and power units

Working with Thames Water to meet their sludge management targets and regulatory drivers

Search for efficiency – key areas to consider when specifying gas engines to achieve the lowest cost of ownership

New sludge treatment facility with a 5-year payback saves Yorkshire Water £4.5m/year in operating costs

Generating electricity from biogas at key Southern Water sites

Hydroelectric installation integrated with existing operation to generate up to 700MWh of electricity per annum

Combined heat and power (CHP) installations and environmental permitting regulations (EPR) improvements

Optimising the production and utilisation of biogas from sewage sludge

Northumbrian Water’s first retro-fit hydroelectric installation into an operational water treatment works

Bio Thelys® thermal hydrolysis plant provides green energy from sewage sludge

The planning, design, installation and commissioning of PV arrays on South West Water operational sites

Hydroelectric scheme generates power from incoming raw water on the Isle of Man

Tidal energy can be cost competitive with offshore wind and other low-carbon energy technologies

Acid phase digestion generating green energy with advanced digestion

A new sludge treatment facility for Yorkshire Water

New process provides ‘green’ energy from sewage sludge

New anaerobic digestion plant and habitat quality upgrade

Using advanced AD to improve operational efficiency and environmental sustainability in Northumbrian Water

Hydro project will provide Scottish Water with self-generated power for their assets

Harbouring an existing asset for new energy production in a restricted and remote location

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water delivers AD plants early, and moves towards power self-sufficiency in wastewater treatment

The practicalities of biodiesel, a subset of liquid biofuels

Utilising Scheduled Monuments to harbour modern power generation

Delivering a world-class sustainable white water facility

Energy Crop Anaerobic Digestion Plant

Anglian Water’s AMP4 Biosolids Programme: a story of integration, innovation and challenge

Advanced anaerobic digestion facility – from sludge drying to digestion

£4 million Wind Energy Scheme provides base load power to the treatment facilities

£35m scheme increases electrical self generation at sludge centre

Combined heat and power project: Getting the most out of recycling waste

Providing economic & environmental benefits

Extension to sludge digestion facilities

First solar powered combined sewer overflow – UK ‘first’ claim for Gelligaled Park, South Wales

New £4m CHP plant saves cash & the environment

Large thermal hydrolysis plant for Nigg STC