The North Wales Sludge Strategy is the implementation of DCWW’s visionary strategy for disposal of treated sewage sludge. It brings together all the sludge from centres across North Wales and Cheshire to a centralised facility at Five Fords Wastewater Treatment Works.

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It provides a greater amount of biogas to heat homes, a more resilient asset base, and a high quality soil conditioner for agriculture. 

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The project was made possible by a dedicated team committed to achieving a challenging programme, using innovative ideas and best practice, to bring the best possible outcome for the client via connected thinking and holistic standardisation of assets.

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Strategy review

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Through workshop consultations and detailed analysis of exported and incoming sludge numbers, we challenged the original proposal for two Advanced Anaerobic Digestion (AAD) sites in North Wales including: 

• Early engagement with the supply chain and the latest technological advances giving early visibility to solutions and refinement of OPEX calculations.

• Consultation with logistics staff gave greater detail to transport options including vehicle sizes and routes, to better inform OPEX calculations.

• Considering availability of landbank to ensure the AAD sites had sufficient opportunity to export treated cake to agriculture.

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The key findings were:

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• The volume of sludge generated was estimated at 14,300 - 17,200 tDS/an, significantly less than proposed

• Reduction in the number of satellite sites from eight to seven 

• Key equipment to be sized to accommodate future growth.

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This meant only one new AAD facility was required, giving a multi-million pound saving for both capital and whole life cost estimates when compared with the original two-site solution.

A further workshop allayed operational concerns, and confirmed standby plant and processes. The satellite sites sludge numbers were then confirmed as a basis of design, pinpointing where investment was required to ensure a high quality sludge fuel.

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