Helea and Ephyra at the Water Industry Awards 2024

Wastewater treatment and sludge management is a crucial part of our industry – and life, so it’s vital to ensure treatment processes are as sustainable as possible. At Royal HaskoningDHV, we’re dedicated to Enhancing Society Together with our partners and clients – now and for the future.

That’s why we’re so pleased to announce that two of our sludge treatment technologies were recognised by this year’s Water Industry Awards. With Ephyra shortlisted for Net Zero Carbon Initiative of the Year and Helea winning the Energy in Water Award.

Net Zero Carbon Initiative of the Year

Finalist: Ephyra – Helping achieve net zero through improved digester performance

Royal HaskoningDHV

Traditionally, anaerobic digestion relied on Constantly Stirred Tank Reactors operating in parallel, but we thought there must be a better way.Enter Ephyra: a high-performing and sustainable technology for sludge digestion.

Ephyra operates digesters in series to achieve high-rate plug-flow anaerobic digestion, with controlled recirculation for improved process control. It is proven at full-scale for new and upgrade projects, and delivers stable, more efficient digestion.

The technology provides up to 50% additional throughput with a comparable gas yield, negating the need for the embedded carbon associated with new build assets. And it increases gas yield by 20% while reducing downstream GHG emissions.

In fact, a recent exercise for one UK water company demonstrated that installing Ephyra at 10 sludge treatment centres would result in an emissions reduction of 96,000 tonnes CO2eq/yr. This would deliver the majority of their AMP8 carbon reduction target.

We’re proud that Ephyra is helping reduce emissions in the water industry and accelerate the journey to net zero. And we’re very grateful that this was recognised by the Water Industry Awards.

Energy in Water Award

Winner: Helea – The sustainable route to advance digestion

Royal HaskoningDHV and Anglian Water

Two years ago, our groundbreaking commercial partnership with Anglian Water Services enabled us to promote Helea: a more affordable, efficient, reliable, and sustainable route to advanced digestion and biosolids treatment.

Helea’s three-stage process – involving heat recovery, pasteurisation, and biological hydrolysis – is cheaper, more energy efficient, simpler, safer, and more stable than competing systems.

This technology maximises energy output from sludge by assisting the self-delivery of non-fossil fuel derived power. But that’s not all, Helea also:

• Supports the drive to carbon neutral and net zero with less operational and embedded carbon and increased biogas yield.
• Makes workplaces safer with no pressure vessels, no high temperatures, and no support fuel to manage.
• Delivers more for less with lower construction and operating costs, meaning a more affordable solution for customers.

From just a sketch on a flip chart to a Water industry Award winner, we couldn’t be more delighted with what is now a widely recognised advanced digestion technology.

Showcasing the very best of the water sector

Congratulations to the other winners and our fellow finalists. Events like this highlight just how successful our industry is at creating innovative and sustainable solutions to our challenges – old and new.

Take a more detailed look at Ephyra and Helea to see how they could benefit your wastewater treatment facility.