Commissioning of the Advanced Digestion Plant at Davyhulme

The recently installed Thermal Hydrolysis and Digestion facility at United Utilities wastewater treatment plant in Davyhulme, Manchester has increased the site’s biosolids processing capability from 39,000 tonnes dry solids (tDS) per year to a maximum capacity of 121,000 tDS per year (with an average of 91,000 tDS per year). The new plant provides United Utilities with a central biosolids processing facility and allows for import of dewatered biosolids cake from seven satellite sites which previously used lime treatment. The increase in capacity means that Davyhulme is now capable of processing biosolids equivalent to a population of approximately 4.4 million people.This paper provides an overview of the commissioning implementation at Davyhulme with a particular focus on the methods used and results achieved commissioning the thermal hydrolysis, digesters and gas utilization systems.