Bluewater Bio will soon be celebrating their first decade based in Bahrain. Already recognised as being the fastest growing UK water technology company this year, they have their largest installation at Tubli Wastewater Treatment Works.

Utilising Bluewater Bio’s state of the art technology known as HYBACS, it has been pivotal in raising the environmental condition of Tubli Bay, which is an internationally important habitat for wading birds.

The Executive Chairman and Chief Executive, Richard Haddon said, “We see Bahrain as our second home, and it is our ambition to create a long-term base here serving the Middle East and beyond. We are most grateful for the support we have had from the Bahraini institutions and its friendly people. This of course will improve the local economy and create jobs as well.”

In November 2016, His Royal Highness Prince Charles visited Bahrain and spent some time learning about what the HYBACS technology had achieved and the magnificent improvements being made to the bay area. Being a strong supporter and leader with environmental improvements, he made this an essential visit in his busy agenda.

HYBACS – A novel solution for a common problem

Throughout the Middle East region, rapid population growth has resulted in many wastewater treatment facilities becoming overloaded and failing to meet environmental discharge standards. Conventional solutions, such as the construction of additional aeration lanes is expensive and requires large areas of land. These were the main challenges facing Bahrain’s Ministry of Works in the upgrade at Tubli.

In 2011, Bluewater Bio was awarded a contract to upgrade the treatment works using their hybrid activated sludge (HYBACS) process. Part of the existing activated sludge plant was upgraded from a capacity of 40 million litres per day (MLD) to over 100 MLD, thereby reducing the overloading and improving the quality of treated wastewater.

Completed in 2013, the landmark award-winning project has operated successfully for 7 years, producing a high-quality source of treated sewage effluent (TSE) for reuse. Indeed, the wastewater treatment works is now known as a Reclaimed Water Production Centre.

Through Bluewater Bio’s long-term commitment to supporting the Kingdom of Bahrain in meeting their environmental goals for Tubli Bay and the success of the original project, Bluewater Bio was awarded, in 2019, a subsequent contract to upgrade more of the treatment plant to HYBACS.

The second phase of HYBACS upgrade will see a further increase of 120 MLD in capacity. The project is now under construction to be completed in 2021.

About HYBACS

The HYBACS process uses a unique biological pre-treatment reactor to accelerate the hydrolysis step within wastewater treatment. This enables an existing activated sludge plant to treat typically double the flow and load.

The patented process has been applied successfully around the world and has proven to be robust and highly cost effective.  Capital cost savings of over 50% have been achieved and a HYBACS plant typically uses up to 30% less power than alternatives.

Environmental Objectives

Whether designing a brownfield expansion or a greenfield facility, Bluewater Bio works with Clients to develop sustainable solutions with a particular emphasis on reducing CAPEX and OPEX, footprint and energy consumption.

Bluewater Bio’s depth of experience comes from more than 40 HYBACS references across the globe. Proven at scale and consistently performing to the highest international standards, HYBACS is rapidly gaining recognition as an ideal solution for upgrading and expanding wastewater treatment plants in the MENA region.

(Article originally published in Utilities Middle East, November 2020)

Bluewater Bio Limited, a leading provider of treatment solutions to the water industry, is pleased to announce that its high rate multi-media filtration technology, FilterClear, has been successfully installed at Severn Trent’s Newent and Ledbury WWTWs to satisfy new phosphorus discharge consents that came into force on 31^st March. Both projects were delivered by Severn Trent’s nominated Tier 1 capital delivery partner, CiM6 (a partnership between Costain and Stantec). In both cases BwB provided a fully automated Tertiary Solids Removal (TSR) plant.

Fully automated 4v2800 FilterClear plant installed at Ledbury WWTW

Ledbury WwTW is a medium sized activated sludge works serving the market town of Ledbury, Herefordshire. The works consists of two crude oxidation ditches operating in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) mode. To further polish the EBPR effluent, ferric sulphate dosing was added upstream of Bluewater Bio’s FilterClear model 4v2800 tertiary solids removal plant. The system is capable of treating up to 132 L/s of flow and is comfortably achieving the performance guarantee of less than 0.24 mg/L phosphorus.

Newent WWTW is a medium sized trickling filter works with a population equivalent (P.E.) of 17,500. Ferric sulphate dosing was added at the primary settlement stage and into the feed to a new FilterClear 4v2340 tertiary solids removal plant to achieve a new phosphorus limit of less than 0.64 mg/L. Now completed, the FilterClear tertiary solids removal plant is treating up to 78 L/s, with the treated flow discharging into a nearby tributary of the River Severn.

Richard Price, Framework Operations Director at Costain, commented: “Both projects successfully achieved the new regulatory permit on 31^st March 2020 and have been operating below permit levels since that date. We have been impressed with the hard work, flexibility and commitment of the team at Bluewater Bio and look forward to working with BwB in the future in delivering more FilterClear schemes for Severn Trent.”

FilterClear is a high-rate multimedia filtration technology, capable of treating flows ranging from 2 L/s to in excess of 1,000 L/s. Since successfully demonstrating that the technology can achieve total phosphorus concentrations of less than 0.1 mg/l in the national CIP2 trials, FilterClear has been successfully implemented at multiple sites for Severn Trent and other water companies. In most cases the consent limit is not as stringent as 0.1 mg/L, but water companies recognise the benefits of planning ahead for future tightening of phosphorus consents.

Andrew Bibby, Business Development Manager at Bluewater Bio, concluded: “At Bluewater Bio we pride ourselves on delivering quality equipment that does what it says on the tin, and backing that up with great customer service. We are delighted to have supported CiM6 to deliver these schemes on time and appreciate Richard’s positive feedback. We are looking forward to delivering many more schemes for Severn Trent with Costain in AMP7.”

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Bluewater Bio Limited, a leading provider of treatment solutions to the water industry, is pleased to announce that its high rate multi-media filtration technology, FilterClear, has been selected for three projects within Wessex Water (“Wessex”) in order to achieve compliance with tighter phosphorus consents, as set by the Water Framework Directive (WFD).  The schemes are located at Winscombe, Sherborne and Rowde. BwB will provide in each case a fully automated Tertiary Solids Removal (TSR) plant. The contracts follow on from the Company’s recent contract award for Severn Trent Water at Itchen Bank STW and marks the first time FilterClear has been deployed at Wessex operated treatment plants.

BWB will work directly with Wessex Water and its Tier 1 delivery partners in providing a Tertiary Solids Removal filtration plants at all three sites.

Site Details

Andrew Bibby, Business Development Manager of Bluewater Bio, commented: “These three schemes add to a growing list of sub 0.5mg/l TP FilterClear reference sites.  The start of AMP 6 witnessed a significant tightening of TP consents and instigated a national trial to understand if TP consents could be technically and sustainably achieved. As we head in AMP 7, FilterClear is demonstrating its pedigree in comfortably achieving low TP’s at equally impressive low whole life costs. FilterClear’s ability to satisfy 0.1mg/l TP’s make it an obvious choice where clients are considering future proofing for AMP8.  BWB are delighted to secure these three awards and looking to engage further with Wessex Water to develop standardized FilterClear packages to ensure future schemes are delivered as economically and efficiently as possible”.

FilterClear is a high-rate multimedia filtration technology, capable of treating flows ranging from 2 L/s to in excess of 1,000 L/s. The technology has a proven track record across multiple applications, both domestically and internationally, having proven to be highly competitive when compared with both conventional and next generation filtration systems.

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Bluewater Bio Limited is pleased to announce that Severn Trent Water , through its key capital delivery partner MWH Treatment Limited, has selected the Company’s high rate multi-media filtration technology, FilterClear, for the provision of a Tertiary Solids Removal (TSR) plant at Itchen Bank STW, Warwickshire. In order to achieve compliance with the new consent of 0.3 mg/l – with a contractual target of 0.24 mg/l – for phosphorus, BwB are providing a fully automated 4v2550 tertiary solids removal plant. Once completed, the FilterClear solids removal plant will be capable of treating in excess of 115 l/s.

BwB’s scope will include design, manufacture, supply, installation and commissioning of a new TSR plant, with delivery scheduled for Autumn 2020.The contract marks the Company’s sixth phosphorus removal scheme with Severn Trent and first for AMP 7. The project will be delivered under the most up to date NEC suite of contracts, NEC4.

Fergus Rooksby, Commercial Director of Bluewater Bio, commented: “We are delighted to work with both Severn Trent and MWHT on this P removal scheme. As we are now moving into AMP 7 this first contract, as part of the early start programme of works, allows us to keep up the momentum in establishing FilterClear as an ideal solution for a chemical dosing approach to low phosphorus consents.”

“Itchen Bank is our 6^th contract with Severn Trent and serves to illustrate that FilterClear technology and Bluewater Bio are a reliable and attractive solution to clients’ P removal needs for the up and coming AMP. Coupled with recent successes elsewhere in Welsh Water, United Utilities and Wessex Water our position as technology provider for the coming AMP looks highly encouraging.”

FilterClear is both a modular and scalable process, treating flows ranging from 2 L/s to in excess of 1,000 L/s. The technology has a proven track record across multiple applications, both domestically and internationally, having proven to be highly competitive when compared with both conventional and next generation filtration systems.

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