A BRITISH PERSPECTIVE TO BIOSOLIDS RECYCLING IN THE FACE OFLEGISLATIVE THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES: RECYCLING STRATEGYDEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION

摘要

This paper details the process by which United Utilities Service Delivery (UUSD) and theirrnengineering services provider, Montgomery Watson Programme Management Limited (MWPM)rnhave been able to define a biosolids treatment and recycling strategy in a rapidly developing andrnchanging regulatory environment. The strategy development has looked at the immediaterndemands of legislation for England and Wales to be implemented by 1st January 2002 as well asrnfuture European legislation that will impact on the ability of UUSD to reliably continue itsrnrecycling activities. This paper provides a comparison between the US EPA Part 503 BiosolidsrnRule and the proposed regulation for England and Wales. The paper describes the HACCPrnprocedure and its application to the biosolids treatment process.rnThe paper will detail the steps taken by UUSD and MWPM to audit its existing recycling routesrnand to identify and secure additional capacity. Because of stringent final product standardsrnimposed under the developing regulation, it has also been imperative to implement an urgent andrnextensive sampling programme to define and understand the mechanisms for pathogen reductionrnacross UUSDs existing biosolids treatment processes.rnIn parallel with the development of an increased understanding of the conventional processes,rnUUSD are implementing a series of experiments intended to improve its understanding of thernperformance of Mesophilic Anaerobic Digestion (MAD) by investigating batch digestionrnprocesses. Under certain configurations it is found that the performance of the mesophilicrnbiosolids treatment process could be relatively simply enhanced from a normal reliable 1.5 logrnkill performance to a potentially substantial kill. The paper will outline the very encouragingrnlaboratory results generated for the experimental process configurations which are currentlyrnbeing developed as a full scale trial using an accelerated programme such that its results can bernused in the defining the next phase of construction work.