Composting Facility at Wanlip Sewage Treatment Works

Anaerobic Digester at Wanlip

Biffa Leicester are providing a new composting facility at Severn Trent Water's Wanlip Sewage Treatment Works, to compost the fine organic material produced by the Bursom recycling facility. All waste handling will be carried out within a fully enclosed building, with in-built air filters for odour and dust control. The composting process will all be carried out within sealed, cylindrical digestion tanks, where the organic waste is liquefied, heated and broken down by bacteria, similar to processes already carried out at the sewage treatment works. The methane gas produced by the digestion process in the tanks will be harnessed and used to generate electricity. The compost product will be marketed for agricultural use by Severn Trent Water Ltd.

The process includes:

• All waste handling being carried out an enclosed building including in-built air filter units to control odour and dust.
• All composting being carried out in 5 sealed digester tanks.
• Energy recovery through the capture of methane gas produced by the composting process and its conversion into electricity (approximately 1.5 Megawatts - enough to power up to 1500 homes).
• Recycling of the organic household waste into re-usable agricultural compost, leading to achievement of recycling targets.
• Integration with an existing sewage treatment complex.
• A live link, via CCTV, to an education centre at the new recycling facility at Bursom, in Leicester.