Training

Optimising Effluent Treatment Plants: Food, Beverage & Paper Industries (07/05/25) SOLD OUT

7 May 2025, Online

Wednesday 7^th May 2025, VIRTUAL

Format: Online

Times: 9:30 AM – 16:30 PM

Fee: £350 plus VAT for 1-person (includes slides presented)

Course Overview

Industrial effluent treatment plants are some of the most challenging to operate.  More concentrated, more biodegradable and more variable than domestic wastewater, often warm, prone to becoming septic, sometimes high in fats, can be nutrient rich or deficient.  Yet, these same characteristics can offer an opportunity to produce renewable energy and significant income through anaerobic digestion.

Designing for such variability is challenging and each plant needs to be understood on a case by case basis.  Poor settling activated sludge and foaming are common and should be anticipated along with granule loss from the anaerobic system.

These sectors are also facing tightened discharge permits with total nitrogen and phosphorus limits offering the greatest challenge.

Course Aim

This course will help attendees to understand the complexities of operating industrial effluent treatment plants, the tests used to benchmark performance, root causes of common problems and the solutions to address these.  Delivering a compliant discharge is at the heart of the course whilst also paying close attention to the costs of operation and the opportunity to generate renewable energy and income.

Learning is delivered through a combination of lectures, case studies and worked examples.

Course Programme

• What do industrial effluents looks like for different sectors? Tests and values to characterise
• Understanding aerobic ETP layouts with a focus upon balancing, equalisation, dissolved air floatation & activated sludge plants (including membrane bioreactors, aeration lanes and sequencing batch reactors)
• Odour – what, where and why are they produced
• The nightmare filaments Type 021N and Thiothrix that cause horrific settlement/ filtration challenges in the activated sludge treatment plant. Identification and abatement options
• Anaerobic digestion – evaluating the financial benefit and understanding process selection – Pre-acidification, EGSB, UASB, AMBR
• Troubleshooting Industrial AD plants – granule integrity and loss, biogas quality and clean up, managing an underperforming system
• Achieving low total nitrogen and phosphorus consents
• Water reuse – opportunity, necessity, cost, risk

Who should attend?

This course will have broad appeal.  Anyone operating an industrial effluent treatment plant who has experienced the above issues will find it relevant.  If you’re considering a plant upgrade, anaerobic digestion or have a tightening discharge permit to contend with; you will leave understanding the challenges and opportunities.  Technology suppliers in this sector seeking to understand where products fit and market opportunities are should also attend.  And if you work for a water company and have a trader in the catchment that causes challenges at the receiving treatment works this course is also for you.

Trainer Profile

Matthew Smyth  BSc, MRes, MBA, MCIWEM CSci CWEM
Director, Aqua Environment Solutions Limited
E. matthew.smyth@aquaenvironment.co.uk

Matt has been working with industrial effluent treatment plants since 1999 and continues to support operational sites.  He also delivers similar training to the Environment Agency food, drink, paper, pulp and textile groups.

Matt presents and publishes regularly at industry recognized conferences and chairs Aqua Enviro’s European Biosolids & Organics and European Wastewater Management Conferences.

Outside of training Matt manages interesting technical projects.  His continued exposure to a wide range of investigative, challenging and solution orientated projects is brought into training to ensure that the material presented is current and relevant.