Sludge and wastewater treatment dominate Ofwat innovation funding

Methods to process treated sludge into energy have been given a multi-million pound boost through the Ofwat innovation fund.

Yorkshire’s project to transform sludge into a source of hydrogen and low-carbon products received a share of £40 million to progress the novel approach to sludge management.

Thames was awarded c£15 million across four projects including no dig leakage repairs and sustainable drainage systems; Northumbrian earned more than £10 million for four proposals including developing better understandings of river pollution; while Severn Trent was awarded £6.4 million over four projects.

The fourth round of the Water Breakthrough Challenge sought innovative solutions and projects with the potential to deliver industry-scale, transformational change for the environment, customers and society.

Yorkshire’s Sewage Sludge Gasification project addresses growing concerns that processed sludge, used in agriculture, poses environmental challenges as a source of microplastics, forever chemicals and metals that may enter soils and waterways. It was one of six schemes innovating in wastewater treatment.

Helen Campbell, senior director at Ofwat said: “What we do with treated sludge is not the most glamorous of subjects but cannot be ignored. The current approach of spreading treated sludge to land has environmental consequences, which could include microplastics and forever chemicals – both of which may enter the water system and affect water quality.

“This is not a problem unique to the UK – alternative solutions are needed around the world. The Innovation Fund has awarded funding to four projects today that will help accelerate innovative solutions to the problem and provide wider environmental benefits in the process.”

It uses an Advanced Thermal Conversion (ATC) gasification process to create byproducts including a hydrogen-rich synthesis gas. High temperature treatment should destroy contaminants including Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and microplastics.

Innovation programme manager at Yorkshire Danielle Hankin said the project pre-empts changes in legislation and consumer attitudes to sludge application.

“Once proven, the gasification process will produce sustainable wastewater treatment media and construction material, generate green electricity, and could create high-value products such as biomethanol aviation fuel or hydrogen. Our work represents a pivotal step in driving the UK towards a greener, more resource-efficient future.”

Projects to receive funding were:

• Anglian – £1.4 million for All-Streams HTO: A demonstration of Hydrothermal Oxidation to transform biowaste management.
• Thames – £1.3 million to develop a market-based approach to deliver SuDS through street works.
• Welsh – £1.3 million for local regeneration of Granular Activated Carbon to remove organics and compounds in a lower cost and lower carbon method.
• Northumbrian – £1.7 million to scale-up the use of microbial electrochemical technology in wastewater utilities.
• Thames – £6 million for no dig leak repair from concept to reality to fix hidden leaks within live water mains.
• Severn Trent – £1.8 million to develop a whole system approach to deal with PFAS.
• Northumbrian – £1.6 million for proactive sewer maintenance using autonomous robots called Pipebot Patrol that inspect pipes and raise alerts about blockages.
• Thames – £1.7 million to develop Pipebots for rising mains, which builds on previous work funding through the same Challenge fund.
• Thames – £6.2 million for proof of concept for UK first sewage sludge pyrolysis at a continuously operating demonstration plant. Pyrolysis is a high temperature process without oxygen that can maximise value from biosolids and reduce the amount of sludge recycled to agricultural land.
• Severn Trent – £1.9 million to develop a gamified incentive scheme to reduce water demand by rewarding customers for water-efficient behaviour.
• Northumbrian – £5 million for River Deep Mountain AI. This is a machine-learning analysis tool to garner insights on factors impacting waterbodies to tackle pollution in a scalable way.
• Southern – £1.6 million to develop and deploy self-calibrating, smart water quality sensors across catchments to increase the accuracy and quality of data.
• Southern – £0.9 million to develop a national online sustainable drainage platform to support collective understandings of how SUDS work, where the benefits they provide.
• Northumbrian – £1.8 million for Support for All, a national secure, cross-sector platform sharing priority services register (PSR) and other vulnerability data between water, energy, telecoms and other organisations.
• Severn Trent – £2 million to harness heat energy from wastewater and sewer networks by showcasing a reliable technical and commercial solution.
• Severn Trent – £0.7 million to investigate biochar production from wastewater biosolids.