Bluewater Bio International, the provider of HYBACS®, a high-performance and highly cost-effective wastewater treatment technology, recently announced that Severn Trent Water, through its key framework contractor MWH Treatment, has placed an order for Bluewater Bio's HYBACS® wastewater treatment technology to upgrade the Ashbourne sewage treatment works (STW) in Derbyshire, U.K., which serves a population of 35,000.
The order follows three years of close collaboration between Bluewater Bio and Severn Trent, during which time HYBACS® was evaluated in a containerized demonstration plant at Coleshill STW in Birmingham.
"Rarely do we come across such novel technologies as HYBACS® and following an extensive and lengthy on-site evaluation we were convinced that this could provide real cost effective solutions to the challenges we face," says Severn Trent Waste Water R&D Manager Mark Jones. "We believe that HYBACS® has great potential, especially as a ‘slot in' process for the upgrading of existing sites due to its low operational cost and small additional hydraulic head requirements."
"We worked very closely with Mark's R&D team during this evaluation period in which the HYBACS® plant demonstrated a very high performance and, in particular, the high level of nitrogen removal required both to meet and exceed the most stringent European treatment standards," says Bluewater Bio COO Adrian Harris. "We would like to thank Severn Trent for their commitment and support during this time."
The demonstration of an enhanced level of nitrogen removal was especially important because the requirements under Europe's Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive exceed those of the Total Nitrogen metric in South East Asia, where earlier versions of the technology originated.
The overall plant upgrade is being carried out by MWH to whom Bluewater Bio will supply four of its proprietary SMARTTM unit reactors, which power the HYBACS® process.
The upgrade is being undertaken as a result of an imminent increase in load to the works, of approximately 45 per cent, due to expansion by a major trader within the Ashbourne catchment.
The selection of the HYBACS® process at Ashbourne followed an extensive review of alternative treatment options.
These were assessed with a view to delivering the most efficient and cost beneficial solution with consideration given to a range of key factors, including initial capital investment, ongoing operational costs, embodied and operational carbon, maximization of the existing assets, constructability and delivery timescale, planning risk, and power requirement.
The project team recognized that the HYBACS® solution delivered distinct advantages within these selection criteria over the other process options.
The upgrade will be completed in May 2012.