Bluewater Bio International, has secured its fourth order in South Africa for its enhanced activated sludge process, HYBACS® for the extension of the Tsakane Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), located 25 miles southeast of Johannesburg.

The project, valued at 44.4 million South African Rand (c. £2.5m) has been secured via BwB’s licensee partner in Sub Saharan Africa, Headstream Water. The project

Tsakane STP is one of 19 STPs owned and operated by East Rand Water Care Company (ERWAT), a wastewater utility, who serve more than 3.5 million people and some 2,000 industries near Johannesburg.

The original STP at Tsakane was designed to treat an average of 10,800 m3/day of wastewater. Following rapid growth of the township, the STP became overloaded, requiring an increase in the capacity of the plant.

The HYBACS upgrade has been designed to more than double the capacity of the existing plant, servicing a 75,000 population equivalent (PE). The upgrade includes 12 of BwB’s SMART Units, the unique component of the HYBACS process. A major benefit of the HYBACS solution is that it avoids the need to build any additional structures, reducing the cost substantially and enabling the upgrade to be carried out swiftly and without affecting the operation of the existing treatment plant.

Tsakane represents BwB’s fourth order for HYBACS in South Africa in less than five years, and marks the company’s largest contract award in the region to date. Combined with the 10 SMART units currently in operation at the Botleng, Swartruggens and Hartbeesfontein plants, this latest order will more than double the Company’s installed base to 22.

Fergus Rooksby, Commercial Director of Bluewater Bio, commented:

“We are delighted to have secured our fourth order, via Headstream, for the Tsakane sewage treatment plant. The increasing use of HYBACS in South Africa is both a direct result of all the hard work done by our partners Headstream and an increasing realization by major water utilities such as ERWAT that simple and robust solutions to overloaded treatment plants are the way forward.”

“In a market where the wastewater infrastructure is under increasing pressure due to ageing assets and overloading and where competition for capital is fierce, HYBACS continues to show that it is well suited to meet these needs. The high quality of treatment HYBACS delivers is sufficient to meet some of the most stringent discharge consents around the globe and its modularity makes it a powerful tool. Following the success of this significant scheme, I look forward to the continued roll out of HYBACS in South Africa and beyond.”