19.09.2022 Ι UK-based South Staffs Water is upgrading its Hampton Loade water treatment plant with CeraMac technologies from PWNT. When completed in August 2024, it will be the world’s largest water treatment plant using ceramic membranes.

The modernization project

The upgraded Shropshire water treatment plant has a capacity of 210 MLD and serves up to 700,000 customers. It is the first retrofit of its kind at an existing water treatment plant and the largest deployment of ceramic membrane technology in the UK. It is part of a £55 million upgrade and refurbishment project for the Hampton Loade water treatment plant and is based on an innovative and environmentally sustainable ceramic membrane-based water filtration system provided by pwnt, part of the Saur Group’s Industrial Water Solutions business.

With the aim of sustainably improving water quality, Ross Shire Engineering is working with technology solutions provider Nijhuis Saur Industries UK & Ireland, which will partner with the recently acquired pwnt to deliver the complete water treatment process flow, including the technology. This has already been deployed on a large scale at plants in the UK, Singapore, Switzerland, Scotland and the Netherlands.

Andy Willicott, managing director of South Staffs Water, said, “We are really excited about the award of this contract and seeing the innovative improvements that the work will bring. It will ensure our customers continue to receive the high-quality and resilient water supplies they expect and pay for, as well as help us on the road to delivering net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. All this will happen with no disruptions to our customers’ supply of water.”

High reliability and efficiency

Pwnt’s ceramic membrane-based water filtration solution will further improve water quality, increase efficiency and reliability, and significantly reduce energy consumption, all in support of the water sector’s goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030. The pressure vessels for the ceramic membranes are manufactured by Unidro, which is also part of Saur’s iws business unit.

“Ceramic membranes are an innovative new technology that are transforming how the water sector will filter water now and into the future. We pride ourselves in being a business at the forefront of introducing new water treatment and water recycling technologies which support the sustainable and secure growth of the UK economy”, added Allan Dallas, managing director of rse.