Interview C. Makropoulos, P. Vale - Building NextGen wastewater treatment systems

“The future of wastewater treatment involves bubbles, just less of them, according to Peter Vale. As the technical lead for innovation at UK utility, Severn Trent (ST), he has spent much of his career looking at extending the traditional technique of activated sludge that, you’ve guessed it, involves a lot of bubbles.
“Despite its widespread adoption, you can’t get away from the fact that is it energy-intensive,” he says, despite praising the technology‘s flexibility. He believes there’s potential for a step-change in wastewater treatment. Eventually, the process will become carbon negative, energy positive and will maximize the recovery of nutrients, he says positively. And there’s one particular innovation site outside Redditch, a UK town close to the city of Birmingham proving this could happen sooner rather than later. Developments at the Spernal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) are part of Severn Trent’s “Triple Carbon Pledge”, to meet net zero emissions, generate 100% energy from renewable sources and operate a 100% electric fleet by 2030.”

(Citation: Interview C. Makropoulos, P. Vale – Building NextGen wastewater treatment systems – www.smartwatermagazine.com (2021)10 February)