The site needed an increase in water treatment capacity on a tight timescale

Background

Siltbuster’s specialists collaborated with Anglian Water’s @one Alliance team to increase capacity and ensure compliance at one of its key sites, Dereham Water Recycling Centre in Norfolk.

The site needed an increase in hydraulic and water treatment capacity on a tight timescale. This ruled out a traditional installation, which could not have been built and brought into operation quickly enough.

The challenge

A modular solution was specified by Siltbuster as a way to increase capacity within the constrained timetable. This approach involves a combination of units, assembled and tested at Siltbuster’s headquarters, before being moved to site and linked together to provide a bespoke system designed for the capacity, flows and water types on site.

To further accelerate the delivery timescales, Siltbuster and the @one Alliance team, made up of Anglian Water and eight specialist partners, agreed a phased programme. This provided early design agreement on the main process units, allowing Siltbuster’s teams to get working on fabrication of these units as soon as possible. Agreement on the ancillary items came at a later date.

Working in this way meant that the main units could be installed in December 2024, with biological seeding starting in January 2025.

The solution

Siltbuster provided a full sidestream treatment, sized for:

• Peak flow = 22.8 l/s

• Effluent BOD = 10 mg/l

• Effluent SS = 20 mg/l

• Effluent Ammonia = 4 mg/l

The design was completed in collaboration with the Anglian Water @one Alliance project team, working via their BIM360 construction management platform, to ensure all involved parties had visibility of the current design model and associated deliverables.

The system is made up of:

• 1x Inlet flow split chamber

• 3x HB50MR biological treatment units each with an individual Local Control Panel (LCP)

• 3x MBBR65s each filled with Warden Biomedia’s Bioflo+ media and fitted with covers to provide workforce protection and prevent debris ingress

• 1x Blower skid, with 3x Aerzen Delta GM35S blowers

• 3x D100 Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) units, each with an individual LCP, Edur whitewater pump, Auma actuated knife gate valves to control sludge flow, and stainless-steel protective guards

• 6x Verderflex peristaltic sludge pumps

All electrical work and panels were completed in line with Water Industry Mechanical and Electrical Specifications (WIMES).

The result

Installation works were completed in Spring 2025, with the sidestream becoming operational and treating to the required standard, discharging water well within the site’s required compliance limits.

As this was the first permanent Siltbuster installation undertaken through the @one Alliance there was a high level of collaboration between the teams to ensure that requirements on both sides were understood, and any potential issues addressed promptly.

The experience gained on this project will feed into subsequent projects, allowing for the delivery process to be further optimised.

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