In Epe, the Veluwe Water Board is pioneering a new generation of sewage water purification. The Nereda granular sludge technology saves around a quarter of the energy, while taking up just a quarter of the space. "In ten year's time, this will be the standard."
Project manager André Welmer, from the Veluwe Water Board, has his work cut out for him: Having just given a guided tour to two people from the Municipality of Epe, in comes a journalist wanting the same. Here, on the edge of an Epe industrial estate, there is a sense that the job is almost done. The major construction work involving cranes and concrete trucks is complete; it is now the turn of the consultants, project workers and various specialists to connect the cables, test subsidiary systems and agree on the final details. Three huge concrete tanks - 9 metres tall, with a capacity of 4500 cubic metres - are lined up in a row. In front of them stands a small black building housing air compressors and the electronics that control the system. From various directions, cables emerge from the sand and run into the building via pipes. A thick steel drainage tube runs along the upper edge of the tanks, underneath a skywalk. From that height, the old installation is clearly visible. It is the type you see everywhere in the Netherlands: a large circular sedimentation tank and the noisy splash of blades moving air through the water. Welmer explains how this will soon be a thing of the past. In partnership with various Dutch water boards, TU Delft and engineering firm DHV have developed the Nereda® granular sludge technology. The new granular sludge - a type of bacteria that removes the organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphate from the waste water - sinks so rapidly that a sedimentation tank is no longer required. And as part of a new aeration technique, compressors blow bubbles from the bottom of the tank - much quieter and more energy-efficient than the splashing blades.
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