Transforming anaerobic digestion

Yorkshire Water will use anaerobic digestion to treat 100% of its sewage sludge by 2020. In collaboration with Professor James Chong at the University of York, and backed by significant funding from the Royal Society, we have instigated a world-leading research project to transform our approach to anaerobic digestion.

Why is this important?

Anaerobic digestion converts organic waste into biogas that can subsequently be used to generate heat and renewable electricity. The residual waste can be used as a fertiliser for farming. Yorkshire Water treats around 150,000 tonnes of sewage sludge using anaerobic digestion each year. The goal of the project is to increase the efficiency of the anaerobic digestion process and convert more solid material into biogas. This would mean more sewage sludge could be processed using the same facilities, reducing the need to build more infrastructure. It would also boost levels of renewable energy production, generate a higher-quality fertiliser product, and provide our customers with value for money.

Experimental facilities

We have invested in state-of-the-art experimental facilities to address critical research gaps relating to anaerobic digestion.

These include a set of 60 five-litre automatically fed, temperature controlled anaerobic digesters (‘System-60) in the Department of Biology at the University of York, as well as a pilot-scale digestion facility located at Yorkshire Water’s nearby wastewater treatment works at Naburn.

In combination, these facilities will deliver unparalleled insights into the microbial communities that drive digester performance. System-60 will be used to screen conditions and the pilot rig will then be used to demonstrate the benefits at a larger scale to build a case for operational changes across Yorkshire Water’s digester fleet.

In this video professor James Chung welcomes you to the System-60 lab and talks us through the process:

The launch event

The experimental facilities were opened formally on 14th august 2019 at an event attended by industry executives, scientists, innovators and community leaders.

Here is a video from the event:

The innovative facility will help to optimise the anaerobic digestion process and build a more sustainable future for Yorkshire Water and its customers.