Water Company Receives Business Excellence Award for Green Technology
Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies has jointly received a prestigious Business Excellence Award from Yorkshire Water for their work on a new Thermal Hydrolysis plant at Esholt Sewage Treatment Works in Bradford.
The awards, given to Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, are presented annually by Yorkshire Water to recognise and celebrate work done by individuals, teams and partners of Yorkshire Water. Veolia is part of the team, headed by the AMP 5 framework partner MGJV, which is delivering the Esholt Bio-Energy project, the UK’s first energy neutral urban sewage treatment plant. The project won in the “Innovative Sustainability” category.
The 700,000PE Esholt treatment works produces 26,000 tonnes dry solids per annum of sludge which is currently incinerated. Yorkshire Water wanted a more sustainable disposal route by extending the anaerobic digestion plant and proceeding with the Veolia Bio Thelys Thermal Hydrolysis Plant.
Thermal hydrolysis breaks down complex organic solids to solubilise them and make them more readily biodegradable. This reduces the size and cost of the downstream anaerobic digestion plant required. It also improves removal of volatile solids which increases the yield of valuable biogas for “green” electricity generation and reduces the quantity of sludge for final disposal, thus further reducing operating costs.
Yorkshire Water places a great deal of value upon the ideas and innovation provided by their delivery partners which assists in the delivery of their corporate vision. The award ceremony took place on 28th November 2012 in Sheffield and was attended by over 450 Yorkshire Water staff and guests including Tim Humphreys, Veolia’s Manager of Projects & Construction.