Nereda

Nereda® technology from Royal HaskoningDHV offers sustainable wastewater treatment solutions for municipal and industrial water. The natural sewage treatment process purifies water with minimal or no chemical usage by using the patented aerobic granular sludge technology.

Compared to activated sludge technologies, the biological treatment power of the technology is much larger, while saving up to 50% on energy costs, delivering high quality effluent for low costs and requiring only a quarter of the area of conventional activated sludge installations.

Biomass in the process develops as fast settling aerobic granular sludge. These granules have excellent settling properties, so the process does not require a separate time-consuming decant phase like conventional SBR’s. All the biological treatment processes take place simultaneously in the granules, requiring only one tank.

The technology is very versatile; it can be developed as a new build or used to retrofit existing conventional CAS or SBR plants. The benefits of the technology include:

Excellent treatment results and settling properties: Compared to activated sludge technologies, the biological treatment power of the technology is much larger as a considerably higher concentration of biological active mass is applied that in addition has a much higher content of microorganism that are crucial for biological nitrogen and phosphate removal.
Sustainable: Compared to conventional wastewater treatment processes, the technology not only has significantly lower energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emission, but also produces, commonly without the use of waste generating chemicals, a remarkably high effluent quality.
Cost effective: The technology results in construction costs that are lower than for conventional technology as for example, tank volumes are up to four times smaller and less equipment is required.
Small physical footprint: Its footprint at sewage treatment plants is reduced due to the full nutrient removal process taking place in one single reactor.
Easy to operate: It has proved in operation to satisfy the most stringent purification requirements. Thanks to the nature of the technology, plant operation is easy and process performance robust.

The technology is proven and applicable for even the largest applications. Currently, there are over 70 wastewater treatment plants in operation or under construction all over the world

Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2022)

Both Blackburn WwTW and Darwen WwTW discharge final and storm effluent to watercourses that are tributaries of the River Darwen, feeding into the River Ribble estuary and the bathing waters of the Fylde coast in the Irish Sea. At Blackburn WwTW, which provides treatment for a population equivalent (PE) of approximately 400,000, construction of the […]

Westnewton WwTW (2021)

Westnewton is a small rural village situated in Allerdale, Cumbria, three and a half miles from the Solway coast at Allonby and eight miles west of the market town of Wigton in the North West of England. The wastewater treatment works (WwTWs) serves a population equivalent (PE) of less than 300. The catchment was previously […]

Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2021)

Blackburn WwTW was constructed in the 1960s and principally treats domestic crude sewage from the Blackburn catchment, with two major additional contributions; a high strength trade effluent from the InBev brewery and an ammonia rich return liquor flow from the sludge treatment plant. The key river water quality/water framework directive parameters within the revised environmental […]

Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2020)

Blackburn WwTW, located at Samlesbury near Blackburn, serves a population equivalent (PE) of approximately 400,000 and discharges final and storm effluent to watercourses that are tributaries of the River Darwen, feeding into the River Ribble estuary and ultimately into the bathing waters of the Fylde coast in the Irish Sea. Over the last 12 months, […]

Morecambe WwTW Catchment Strategy: Part 3 (2020)

Operated by United Utilities, the Morecambe sewerage system collects at Schola Green Wastewater Pumping Station (WwPS) located in the west end of the town. From there, flows for treatment are pumped via a 6km long pipeline to Morecambe Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW), which is situated to the south, near to the village of Middleton. Both […]

Westnewton WwTW (2020)

Westnewton is a small village about three and a half miles from the Solway coast at Allonby and eight miles west of the market town of Wigton. The wastewater treatment works is situated on a hillside above the village and treats wastewater for 275 population equivalent (PE) from the village and the local area. The […]

Newham STW (Threemilestone Project) 2020

Newham Sewage Treatment Works is located on the outskirts of Truro, Cornwall. The site treats wastewater from the city and the surrounding areas which are experiencing a rapid population growth. A £6.8m project was sanctioned by South West Water in May 2018 to provide a new secondary process stream, utilising the novel Nereda granular activated […]

Barston STW (2019)

Barston Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is one of Severn Trent’s medium sized treatment works. The site is located to the east of Birmingham in the West Midlands. The STW treats foul water for the catchment serving Solihull, Shirley, Knowle and other outlying conurbations. It currently serves a population of 39,741 which will increase to 76,036. […]

Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2019)

Both Blackburn WwTW and Darwen WwTW discharge final and storm effluent to watercourses that are tributaries of the River Darwen, feeding into the River Ribble and ultimately impacting on the bathing waters of the Fylde coast. Following on from the Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2017) article and Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2018) article, both published […]

Inverurie WwTW (2019)

Inverurie Wastewater Treatment Works lies on the banks of the River Don in Aberdeenshire, at the confluence with the River Urie, and serves a current population of approximately 28,000 people with substantial future growth within the catchment forecasted. This project has been initiated by Scottish Water to provide compliance with new nutrient discharge consents under […]

Kendal WwTW (2019)

Kendal WwTW is the main treatment facility for the area servicing a large residential and tourist catchment, with a population equivalent of 82,384. The works has an existing consent of 25 mg/l biological oxygen demand (BOD) 45mg/l suspended solids, 5 mg/l ammonia, and an annual average phosphorus permit of 1 mg/l, with a flow to […]

Medlock Quality Programme (2019)

Medlock Quality Programme is part of United Utilities AMP6 investment programme across the North West and is the third Nereda® Reactor Plant to be operated by United Utilities. The scheme can be split into two distinct areas: (i) the upgrade of Failsworth WwTW to meet the new discharge consent and reduce the volumes of spills […]

Morecambe WwTW Catchment Strategy: Part 2 (2019)

United Utilities’ Morecambe sewerage system collects at Schola Green Wastewater Pumping Station (WwPS) located in the west end of the town. From there, flows for treatment are pumped via a 6km long pipeline to Morecambe Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW), which is situated to the south, near to the village of Middleton. Both sites have sea […]

Walsall Wood STW (2019)

Walsall Wood Sewage Treatment Works was a trickling filter site discharging into the Ford Brook, part of the River Tame catchment. Under the new Water Framework Directive, the site was required to comply with stringent new standards for phosphorus and ammonia levels in wastewater (BOD: 10 mg/l, NH3: 1.9 mg/l, Total P: 0.5 mg/l). The […]

Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2018)

Following on from the Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2017) article, the site at Samlesbury, Blackburn, has been prepared for the construction of the 72,000m3 structure which will house the innovative Nereda® aerobic granular biomass technology. The Nereda® system will treat crude sewage that has only received preliminary treatment and has been developed to treat the […]

Great Dunmow Water Recycling Centre (2018)

Great Dunmow Water Recycling Centre (WRC) is located a few kilometres to the east of Stansted Airport in Essex and serves a population of approximately 10,000 people. Due to ongoing capacity limitations and operational issues in the existing works, Anglian Water elected to construct a new treatment plant on the site to serve the current […]

Highworth WwTW (2018)

Highworth Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) is located at Pentylands Lane, Highworth to the northeast of Swindon. The treatment works currently serves a population of approximately 10,000 customers, with an average daily flow of 1,720m3 per day and a peak flow of 55 l/s. The works is Royal HaskoningDHV’s first full-scale Nereda plant in the UK. […]

Inverurie WwTW (2018)

Inverurie WwTW is located in Aberdeenshire in the north-east of Scotland and provides sewage treatment for Inverurie and the surrounding area including Blackburn, Kintore and Port Elphinstone. It currently serves a population of 28,000, but Inverurie is one of the most rapidly growing towns in terms of population in the UK, with an estimated population […]

Morecambe WwTW Catchment Strategy: Part 1 (2018)

The Morecambe sewerage system collects at Schola Green Wastewater Pumping Station (WwPS) located in the west end of the town. From there, flows for treatment are pumped via a 6km long pipeline to Morecambe Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW), which is situated to the south, near to the village of Middleton. Both sites have outfall pipelines […]

Nereda in Ireland (2017)

Nereda® is an innovative, sustainable and cost-effective biological wastewater treatment technology that purifies water using the unique features of aerobic granular biomass; purifying bacteria that create compact granules with superb settling properties. The technology was originally discovered by the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and developed in a unique public-private partnership between the […]

Helea® (2022)

The sustainable energy efficient route to advanced digestion and safe biosolids reuse

Kaumera Nereda Gum (2021)

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Nereda Package & Mini Plants (2020)

Sustainable bio-P removal at small works

Nereda (2016)

A pathway to sustainable wastewater treatment in the UK

What we do:

Designers: Process Design

Wastewater Treatment: Secondary Treatment | Aerobic Granular Sludge Plant