A flexible plant
A modular and sustainable wastewater treatment plant
Water boards are facing a number of challenges. To become future proof, they need to reduce net annual costs, take on a more sustainable approach and improve the quality of treated water while lowering costs.
In finding the best approach to face these challenges, Waterschapsbedrijf Limburg (Water Board Limburg) in the Netherlands chose to look at the future with a completely open mind. Letting go of the conventional Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) was the key to the development of a completely new way of designing and constructing sewage treatment plants. It led to Verdygo: a modular, sustainable sewage treatment plant with an above ground setup. All the technical equipment is designed in the form of container-sized, transportable plug & play modules.
An important asset of Verdygo is its full flexibility. Any chosen technology can be applied. With Verdygo, it is possible to design a Sewage Treatment Plant that fulfills your specific needs. And whenever these needs change, adjustments can be made in an easy, swift and inexpensive way.
Global water challenges
Scarcity of (purified) water is a major problem in many areas in the world. Verdygo brings along both a great deal of flexibility and a substantial cost reduction, making sewage treatment more accessible to areas facing water scarcity and/or a low degree of sanitization. Moreover, energy and natural resources can be derived from the purification process.
Benefits
The Verdygo design and construction technique has many advantages compared to the conventional Sewage Treatment Plant, such as improved flexibility, higher sustainability and cost reduction in construction, operation and maintenance.
Conventional STP’s are built to last for at least 40 to 50 years. Robust construction methods are used, often including part-underground concrete structures and underground pipework. That makes both building and maintaining them a time-consuming and high cost operation. The conventional plants are also characterized by their inflexibility. When external factors change, it is difficult and expensive to adapt the existing plant.
Modularity, standardization and sustainability are the keywords of Verdygo. Using modules that are built above ground and connected by means of plug & play, means components can be added or removed. This makes it easy to respond to technological, demographic and climatic developments. It also enables efficient and inexpensive maintenance and improves work experience.
All the necessary equipment for Verdygo plants is built in standard modules. Redundant modules can be reused in other plants, which improves sustainability. Moreover, energy use is lowered – also reducing costs – and all building materials can be reused.
Both the financial investment and required time for designing and building a Verdygo plant are substantially lowered. Design and construction times are 40% lower compared to a conventional Sewage Treatment Plant. Standardization reduces investment costs by 20%. The financial advantage is not limited to the construction phase: operational costs are also much lower: a net annual cost reduction of 10% to 20% can be achieved.
Compare the benefits
| Characteristics | Conventional sewage treatment plant | Verdygo |
|---|---|---|
| Costs | o | ++ |
| Sustainability | o | o/+ |
| General innovativeness | o | ++ |
| Flexibility regarding: | o | ++ |
| – Tightening of effluent standards – Supply of different types of water – Changes to supply – The use of residual heat – The treatment of overflow water – Technological developments | o/+ + – – o/+ – – | + + + + + + |
| Management and maintenance: | ||
| – Reliability – Availability – Maintainability – Safety – Costs | + o o + o | + + ++ + + |
| Work experience: | ||
| – Interdisciplinary cooperation as a team – Using and stretching knowledge and talent – Stimulating the intrinsic motivation | o o o | + ++ ++ |
| Design and construction times | – | ++ |
