The Biothelys™ Grand Prix
Posted: Friday 13th March 2009
Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies wins a major Biothelys™ sewage sludge hydrolysis contract.
Monza is world famous as the home of Italian Formula 1 in Milan, but it is also soon to be home to a new sewage sludge processing facility. ALSI S.p.A operates wastewater treatment plants for the Milan Province and has just awarded a € 6.5m contract to SIBA S.p.A (a Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Business Unit) for a Biothelys™ thermal hydrolysis plant. The plant, which will be built at the S. Rocco wastewater treatment works in Monza, will be operational by June 2010.
The S. Rocco works normally treats sewage from a population equivalent of 690,000 but will increase, in the long term to 750,000 with the planned upgrade of the sewage works. It generates about 23 tonnes per day (dry solids) of primary sludge and 20 tonnes per day of surplus activated sludge, which is currently treated by three digesters: two primary digesters of 7,000m3 and one secondary of 2,800m3. The new Biothelys™ plant will treat 35% of the primary sludge and all the secondary sludge, a total of 28 tonnes per day of dry solids using only one 7000m3 digester. Thermal hydrolysis solubilises organic solids making them more readily biodegradable. This improves the performance of the digester in removing volatile suspended solids, which increases the biogas yield and reduces the quantity of sludge for final disposal. It also improves the sludge quality up to a Class A type and gives a significant reduction in odour generation. The Biogas produced from the process, is used to operate the endothermic engines which in turn operate the air compressors that feed the air to the activated sludge reactors within the wastewater treatment line. The majority of the sludge is dried and then burned in cement production furnaces.
As well as the Biothelys™ process, the new S. Rocco plant includes chemically assisted sedimentation of the wastewater from the existing and new sludge thickeners, using Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies well proven Actiflo™ process. Monitoring of odours on the site will use the company’s OdoWatch™ “electronic nose” technology.
Visit www.veoliawaterst.co.uk for more details of Biothelys™, Actiflo™, Odowatch™ and other technologies from Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies.
