Yarra Valley Water’s Waste to Energy facility won the award for “Outstanding Corporate/Institution Initiative in Collection/Processing Marketing” at the 2017 Victorian Australian Organics Recycling Association (AORA) Awards, held 23^rd August 2017. 

The Australian first facility was recognised for:

• Widening the scope of oganics processing beyond just composting
• An envrionmentally friendly disposal solution for commercial organic waste
• Attracting significant media focus on both the challenges and opportunities in organics processing

The purpose-built facility converts organic waste such as food scraps, into renewable energy.  This occurs via the production of methane gas (biogas) which powers generators to produce electricity.

Aquatec Maxcon partnered with Yarra Valley Water to develop and design the plant and completed the construction in December 2016.  Since that time, the plant has been operating beyond expectation, producing enough electricity to power itself, the adjacent Aurora Sewage Treatment Plant and export surplus electricity to the grid as renewable energy; making the facility not just environmentally sustainable but also commercially viable.  

Anthony Davey, Victorian State Manager for Aquatec Maxcon offered his congratulations to Yarra Valley Water, saying “It is a great achievement to be recognised by the industry in this manner. We are very happy to have contributed to this award-winning plant.  This award means we are setting high standards for the future of waste to energy in Australia”.

On 5^th July 2017, the Yarra Valley Water WtE plant also won the “Best International commercial plant” by the British Anaerobic Digestion Association (ADBA) at the UK AD & Biogas Industry Awards.  Weltec Biopower, were honoured to receive the award.   Aquatec Maxcon partnered with Weltec Biopower, a European pioneer in the field of biogas, to introduce this innovative technology to the Australian water industry.

Visit here, to read more about the award:  http://www.weltec-biopower.com/news/article/weltec-biopower-wins-two-adba-industry-awards.html

Aquatec Maxcon sponsored a School Art Competition to coincide with the opening of the new Kingaroy Wastewater Treatment Plant. The competition was open to all students enrolled in schools within the South Burnett region and ranged from colouring in to producing a poster illustrating the key role wastewater treatment plays within overall catchment management.

The judges were Council’s Division 2 Councillor, Roz Frohloff and the Aquatec Maxcon’s Queensland State Manager, Peter Ferrando.

Peter Ferrando remarked, “Arousing interest in the water cycle through the running of this competition will help to encourage the younger generation to enter STEM fields in the future.”

“The idea was to involve local students by challenging them to do something a little bit out of the ordinary and to get them thinking about wastewater treatment” said Councillor Frohloff, “It is wonderful to see such a response from students throughout the South Burnett.”

The colouring-in competition was divided into two categories, Prep to Year 2 and Year 3 to Year 6. These categories were hotly contested with the judges deliberating for some time to find the overall winners.

The first category for the poster competition required students to produce a poster detailing the role a wastewater treatment plant plays in the overall water cycle.

Mayor Keith Campbell said, "This art competition has encouraged students to think about where our wastewater ends up which benefits the environment and who knows, they may in the future develop an interest and enter into this field.”

The winning artworks will be framed and on display at the Kingaroy Wastewater Treatment Plant. The winners are as follows:

Aquatec Maxcon is proud to be involved in the local community whilst delivering the Kingaroy WWTP, the first full-scale Nereda® WWTP in Australia.

Prep to Year 2 – Colouring In Winners

• 1st Place: Jaxon Branch - Kingaroy State School
• 2nd Place: Ethan Hood - St Mary’s Catholic College
• 3rd Place: Ada Kurz - Nanango State School

Year 3 to Year 6 – Colouring In Winners

• 1st Place: Ashlyn Williamson - Murgon State School
• 2nd Place: Minnie Martoo - St Mary’s Catholic College
• 3rd Place: Paige Mueller - Kingaroy State School

Poster Competition – Water Cycle Winners

• 1st Place: Bridgette Watson - St Mary’s Catholic College
• 2nd Place: Isla Airs - St Mary’s Catholic College
• 3rd Place: Elizabeth Watson - St Mary’s Catholic College

Encouragement Awards Winners

• Paige Nilon-Brown - Nanango State School
• Levi Kurz - Nanango State School
• Aaron Cullen - Kingaroy State School
• Aayusha Pandey - Taabinga State School
• Aaliyah-Mae - Taabinga State School

St Mary’s Catholic College Students show off their winning posters with representatives from Aquatec Maxcon, from Left to Right:  Councillor Roz Frohloff, Process Engineer Shay White from Aquatec Maxcon, students Elizabeth Watson, Bridgette Watson and Isla Airs, Principal Angela Myles and Senior Process Engineer Monita Naicker from Aquatec Maxcon.  Photograph courtesy of South Burnett Regional Council.

 Example of an entry in the Colouring In competition.

  Example of an entry in the Water Cycle competition

Aquatec Maxcon has developed a novel Anaerobic Membrane BioReactor (MBR) which, in collaboration with Trisco Foods, has been tested at pilot scale with excellent results.

The new technology revolutionises the way that food wastes are processed, producing renewable biofuel that can used on site for heating and power generation.  The MBR technology is a missing link in that it can deal with high levels of fats, oil and grease and convert them to biogas in a much smaller footprint than a conventional digestion solution.  The MBR technology, can be used routinely in food processing and biofuel producing industries, such as distilleries, to become more competitive, as waste produced can be converted to biofuel and contribute to site energy savings as well as significantly reducing waste disposal costs.

The project is to be funded out of the Advance Queensland $5 million Biofutures Commercialisation Program and enables the pilot plant to increase to commercial demonstration scale.

In a joint media statement, Queensland Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy, Leeanne Enoch, said “We want to see the biofutures industry grow in Queensland.  That’s why we’re prepared to invest in people and companies with new ideas to get new technologies up and running”.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said “In order to take the technology to national and international markets, upscaling the technology to demonstration standard is essential.  That’s why we’re providing this funding because we want to see ideas like this exported from Queensland to the rest of Australia and around the world.”

David Leinster, Industrial Water and Waste to Energy Specialist for Aquatec Maxcon, said “We would like to thank Trisco Foods who have been an exceptional collaborative partner and the Queensland Government for recognising the importance of optimising this new technology and showcasing it for prospective future users. Upon completion, the project will be a commercial scale proof of concept which will allow prospective customers to view the technology in operation and transfer knowledge of this novel treatment concept to national and international markets”.

The demonstration plant is planned for completion within twelve months.

THE ANAEROBIC MEMBRANE BIO REACTOR (MBR) 

THE END-OF-PROCESS WATER QUALITY IS SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED, REQUIRING LESS DOWNSTREAM TREATMENT. 

The Hon Lisa Neville MP, Victorian Minister for Water, officially opened the Yarra Valley Water’s $27 million Waste to Energy facility in Wollert on the 14th June.  The purpose-built facility converts organic waste such as food scraps, into renewable energy.  This occurs via the production of methane gas (biogas) which powers generators to produce electricity. 

This process saves up to 30,000 tonnes of waste, otherwise bound for landfill each year.   The amount of energy produced by the new facility is the equivalent of about 25 per cent of Yarra Valley Water’s overall energy requirements.  The goal is to produce 100% renewable energy within the next 10 years. 

Aquatec Maxcon Victorian State Manager, Anthony Davey, said “It was a very exciting day for the project team who have worked on this for five years; from development, feasibility and design, to construction and successful operation. We used technology readily available from Europe for the waste handling facilities, cogeneration and digestion process. We had many hurdles along the way - The smarts were in getting the business models to work.  It is full credit to the Yarra Valley Water and Aquatec Maxcon personnel involved to see the plant fully operational and performing well”.

Pat McCafferty, Managing Director of Yarra Valley Water, thanked Aquatec Maxcon for partnering on the project and making it a success, saying “While similar facilities are in place in other parts of the world, a great deal of work was needed to determine whether we could make a facility of this kind a success in the Australian market”.  

Watch the opening of the plant via Channel Nine News here:

Water bills could soon be slashed thanks to unwanted food scraps, the rubbish transformed into electricity. @msanto92 #9News pic.twitter.com/dq9BjLx1cl

— Nine News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) June 14, 2017

The Waste to Energy plant is enough to power the adjacent Aurora Sewage Treatment Plant and export surplus electricity to the grid as renewable energy – making the facility not just environmentally sustainable but also commercially viable. 

The Victorian Labor Government’s climate change plan for water (Water for Victoria) requires the water sector to be a leader in climate change mitigation and adaption and to adopt a target of at least 25 per cent renewable energy by 2020.  Victorian Minister for Water, Lisa Neville, said “This project is a great example of our water authorities meeting the challenges of the future.  By generating its own energy, rather than being dependent on purchasing energy, the facility will put downwards pressure on water bills for consumers”.  

Due to the success of this project a second plant is planned for construction by Yarra Valley Water. 

Photographs copyrighted to and kindly supplied by Yarra Valley Water.

L TO R:  PAT MCCAFFERTY, YARRA VALLEY WATER MANAGING DIRECTOR; BRONWYN HALFPENNY, STATE MEMBER FOR THOMASTOWN; THE HON. LISA NEVILLE, MP;  AND SUE O’CONNOR, YARRA VALLEY WATER CHAIR

BIOGAS PRODUCED FROM DIGESTERS AT THE YARRA VALLEY WATER RE-WASTE FACILITY. 100 TONNES PER DAY ARE DIRECTLY TRANSFERRED TO 1MW ELECTRICITY.