Bluewater Bio Awarded Three Consecutive Phosphorus Removal Contracts

FilterClear offers a proven and reliable method to tackle increasingly stringent discharge consents across the country

Bluewater Bio Limited, a leading provider of treatment solutions to the water industry, is pleased to announce that its high rate multi-media filtration technology, FilterClear, has been selected for three further plants by three different Water Companies in order to achieve compliance with tighter phosphorus consents. BwB will provide in each case a fully automated Tertiary Solids Removal (TSR) plant.

The Company will work with Severn Trent Water’s (“Severn Trent”) capital delivery framework partner, Costain/Stantec (CiM6), in providing a TSR plant at Ledbury WwTW, Herefordshire. This marks the Company’s fifth contract with Severn Trent for phosphorus removal. For United Utilities (“UU”) and Dwr Cymru Welsh Water (“Welsh Water”) –– BwB will deliver TSR plants at Barton WwTW and Dyserth WwTW, respectively. Mott MacDonald Bentley (“MMB”) are in both cases the nominated Tier 1 delivery partner.

Fergus Rooksby, Commercial Director of Bluewater Bio, commented: “We are delighted that on the back of FilterClear’s impressive results in meeting low P consents at other sites across UK that Severn Trent have awarded us our fifth contract for their treatment works at Ledbury WwTW. In addition, securing two new Clients in Welsh Water and United Utilities is further testament to FilterClear’s growing reputation as an ideal solution for a chemical dosing approach to low phosphate concentration consents. We are seeing that the technology is not only effective in meeting P consents below 0.5 mg/l TP, but also performs well on works that have a variable suspended solids load profile. Indeed, FilterClear’s ability to handle higher levels of influent solids makes it an ideal candidate for trickling filter works, or on the back-end of secondary processes that are prone to occasional suspended solids peaks.”

Ledbury WwTW is a medium sized activated sludge works, consisting of two crude oxidation ditches and operating in enhanced biological P removal (EBPR) mode, serving the market town of Ledbury, Herefordshire. The site currently has a population equivalent of 14,500 which is expected to increase to 20,000 at a 2028 design horizon. The works also receives a significant industrial load. The Company will provide a fully automated 4v2800 tertiary solids removal plant, capable of treating up to 132 L/s of flow, to enable the site to meet the new consent of 0.24 mg/l for phosphorus. The project is the largest UK FilterClear installation to date.

Barton WwTW, located north of Preston, is a trickling filter works with SAF and NTF stages. It serves a population equivalent of 6,600, expected to rise to 8,700 in the near future. BwB will provide a 3v1840 TSR plant capable of treating up to 44 L/s that once completed will enable United Utilities to meet the new TP consent of 0.5 mg/l. Delivery date is scheduled for July this year with estimated completion in October 2019.

The project at Dyserth WwTW, a trickling filter site in north Wales, is one of five P removal schemes awarded by Welsh Water to assess viable technology solutions to address the tightening of phosphorus consents. These advance projects, prior to their larger P removal programme in AMP7, will give DCWW and their Tier 1 partners valuable delivery and operational experience and guide their decision making progress in AMP7. Once completed, the FilterClear plant will treat up to 29 L/s and enable the Client to meet their new phosphorus consent of 0.37 mg/l.

FilterClear is a high-rate multimedia filtration technology, capable of treating flows ranging from 2 L/s to in excess of 1,000 L/s. The technology utilizes the vessel headspace for flocculation, thereby eliminating the need to provide additional upstream flocculation with mechanical mixing stages. Additionally, the relatively low head loss offers operational cost savings against higher head systems.

Fergus Rooksby concluded: “FilterClear’s innovative patented design, modularity and DfMA credentials are proving to be an attractive proposition for the UK Water industry. Looking forward to AMP 7 we envisage there will be north of 700 schemes with tight phosphorus discharge consents, a market we feel we are in a strong position to capture a significant proportion of.”

About Bluewater Bio
Bluewater Bio is an award winning global specialist in technologies for cost-effective water & wastewater treatment. Headquartered in London, Bluewater Bio’s range of best in class technologies have been deployed at over 80 sites globally.

Next generation proprietary technologies
With several fully commercialised technologies proven at utility scale, complemented by an active New Product Development pipeline, Bluewater Bio’s capabilities now include:

• HYBACS (enhanced activated sludge process)
• FilterClear (high throughput multi-media filtration)
• CFIC (second-generation moving bed bioreactor)
• GHG-Tox (nitrification and greenhouse gas monitoring)
• NeoTech (highly efficient UV system)
• Operational & Maintenance services (supporting a population equivalent of c. 1 million)
• World Class R&D team, based at Cranfield University, UK

BwB’s growing technology portfolio is focused primarily on the rapid upgrading, optimisation and monitoring of water and wastewater treatment plants.

The company has a particular emphasis on reducing:

• Capital, operational and compliance costs
• Energy & chemical consumption
• Physical & environmental footprint
• Greenhouse gas emissions
• Construction and commissioning times

Combining its R&D expertise with a highly entrepreneurial business approach, Bluewater Bio not only develops its own innovations but also scours adjacent markets for complementary IP, licence opportunities and partnerships.

Through this aggregation strategy, Bluewater Bio aims to be the natural choice for cost effective treatment, re-use and monitoring provision across the water, wastewater and process industries.