HUBER QPRESS – Helping the new Murray Bridge WWTP achieve its outstanding sustainability rating

The SA Water’s Murray Bridge WWTP was recently upgraded and it achieved the highest design rating issued to date by the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA) for an Australian water/wastewater project.

Hydroflux EPCO provided HUBER Rotary Screw Press equipment in the biosolids treatment process. The technology was selected due to its excellent track record across Australia, low energy use and low maintenance demand.

“Many water authorities are leading the charge for reduced carbon emissions and increased renewable energy generation. Part of this conversation includes considerations of solar PV farms, energy storage, managing power demand and loads, biogas harvesting and the incorporation of energy efficient technology.

Had a centrifuge been used in this application, an additional 27,000 kWh per annum of energy would have been required. That’s 14 tonnes per annum of carbon emissions that would otherwise have been discharged to our atmosphere” says John Koumoukelis, CEO of Hydroflux EPCO.

HUBER’s QPRESS is a slow speed sludge dewatering technology. It operates at less than 1rpm as opposed to centrifuges that operate at 3000+rpm and require complex gearboxes and enormous electric motors to drive the process.

In addition to its sustainability outcomes the HUBER QPRESS has outstanding performance with >85% volume reduction in sludge at >95% capture rate.

For this project the sludge being treated was an activated sludge generated from a MBBR process. The final cake solids is approx. 20%DS.

There are currently over 60 HUBER QPRESS units successfully operating across Australia and New Zealand on a variety of municipal and industrial applications.