Yorkshire Water receive approval for £72m sludge treatment facility in Leeds

Approval has been been given for a new £72m treatment and anaerobic digestion facility at Yorkshire Water’s Knostrop works in the centre of Leeds.

Leeds city Council’s planning committee approved Yorkshire Water’s proposal for the bio-energy facility, and the contract has already been awarded to Black & Veatch with the civil engineering element being delivered by Clugston Construction Limited.

Knostrop waste water treatment works on Knowsthorpe Lane has been treating sewage from domestic properties and industry for approximately 100 years.

The new facility will replace the existing sludge and bio-solid incinerator which was constructed in 1993. This will provide a more efficient way of treating sewage combined with the additional benefit of renewable power production from the waste water effluent.

The new facility will provide a 15% reduction in carbon emissions across the company, deliver 55% of the site’s energy needs and contribute to achieving 94% recycling of the region’s sludge by 2020.

Planned for completion in 2019, the facility will be capable of processing 131 tonnes of dry sludge a day and will generate enough renewable energy, using heat and power engines, to provide 55% of Knostrop’s energy needs – enough to power 8,000 homes.

Nevil Muncaster, director of Asset Management, said: “This is the single biggest investment of our current investment period (2015-2020) and will not only provide increased treatment capacity for our sludges but will also deliver significant operational cost savings enabling us to keep customer bills as low as possible.

“Knostrop is designated as a strategic waste site so by increasing the future sludge and bio-solid treatment capacity of the works the project will support also growth in the Leeds sub-regions.”

The project is the latest development in Yorkshire Water’s commitment to invest in renewable energy to benefit the environment and keep customers’ bills low, and supports Leeds council’s plan for the Lower Aire Valley to become a hub for green energy and industry. Yorkshire Water intends to generate approximately 18% of its energy needs by 2020.