Anglian Water leading Triple Carbon Reduction project

The project is aiming to create a so-called ‘triple carbon’ synergy and to this end a demonstration plant will be set up.

The core of the demonstration is an electrolyser, using renewable energy from site to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen produced will be channelled into a novel wastewater treatment process called Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactor (MABR), a ‘drop-in’ technology that increases the amount of wastewater that can be treated in the biological tanks that provide an environment for bacteria to digest organic waste.

MABR uses up to 75 per cent less energy compared to existing processes that bubble air into tanks where up to 70 per cent of the oxygen is wasted.

The oxygen pipe from the electrolyser will merge into process air pipework which goes to the MABR, said Giulia Pizzagalli, innovation projects manager at Anglian Water.

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“The electrolyser will produce approximately 730kg of oxygen per day, which will be oversized for our MABR. The volume of oxygen is likely to be dictated by a combination of treatment needs - maintaining effluent quality while reducing energy consumption and nitrous oxide emissions - and how much oxygen the biology in the process will be able to adapt to and sustain.