WWM: Industrial Consortium

The generation of increased quantities of wastewater and sludge has led to significant ongoing capital expenditure on new and refurbished WWT plant and sludge treatment facilities in AMPs 4 and 5.  Particular attention has been paid to biological N and P removal, chemical P removal, storm water treatment and sludge processing. These operations require a quantified knowledge of the specific process mixing and hydraulic requirements, well-designed and efficient mixing systems and where applicable, accurate information on sludge flow behaviour or rheology.

The WWM Industrial Consortium Programme is run to address this. 

Consortium Benefits

• Days of free consultancy
• Excellent networking opportunities
• Access to over 30 staff-years of focused research
• Design Guides, tools and correlations

The Research Programme

Current research topics include:

• Sludge Rheology Database (SRDB) enabling correlations for prediction of sludge flow behaviour to be developed for sludge types (such as potable and hydrolysed) for which no prediction could be done before
• Sludge System Pumping Losses Prediction Tool (SLOT) provides members with easy to use calculation of sludge pipeline headlosses incorporating the latest rheology from the SRDB.
• Energy saving in flash mixing and flocculation through benchmarking of mixing and flocculation processes.
• Design guide for sludge tank & advanced anaerobic digester systems enabling members to select the most efficient equipment within the process, site and cost constraints.
• Successful development and site trials for non-intrusive mixing system for P-removal.

Previous research, which is accessible to all new members, has included:

• Design Guide for pipe and channel mixing
• Correlations to predict mixture quality in both pipes and channels
• Mixture quality (CoV)and headloss in static mixers in pipes and channels
• Mixture quality and headloss over weirs
• Stirred tank flash mixers (CSTRs)
• In-line dosing of additives into sludge
• The effect of additive viscosity on blending rates

If you are interested in joining WWM or would like more information, please contact Emile Thomas on +44(0)1234 756567