Demonstrating the use of material recovering technology in cold northern European countries
The Severn Trent’s resource recovery innovation centre at Spernal, UK was completed in 2019. Its main goal is to test the production of biogas from water treatment and the removal from organic contaminants from the water. For that, they are employing an Anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR).
AnMBR works by filtering and separating the water from the sludge. This sludge is then treated anaerobically by bacteria which release methane as a byproduct. The biogas can later be combusted to generate heat or electricity. Because of that, AnMBR is considered to be a sustainable alternative solution to improve circularity.
The three components that make the Anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) are now installed, this includes:
1. Up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (UASB) with
2. physical separation membranes, ultrafiltration (UF) for solid-liquid separation and
3. membrane contactor for gas-liquid separation.
This provides all the infrastructure; power, wastewater feed, drainage, telemetry and biogas handling equipment necessary for the AnMBR trial, together with office and laboratory facilities.
Now, enough data must be collected to demonstrate the usability of anaerobic membrane technology with a membrane degassing unit to recover dissolved methane and for water and energy reuse.
Learn more in the presentation: