Energy from waste in the sewage treatment process

Thames Water consumes over £40m of electricity per year. 70% of this demand is expended on pumping alone, while much of the remainder is needed to aerate sewage as part of the treatment process. The power generated by the waste is worth a further and £8m per annum to Thames Water. Naturally the efficient and economic use of energy is high on the company´s agenda. Thames Water and its predecessors have been generating electricity from sewage for half a century. The author briefly outlines the power generation process and the power plant technology used which is based on gas turbines, spark ignition engines, and dual fuel compression engines