CASE STUDY: Optimising Anaerobic Digestion

Scientists at Aqua Enviro worked with the team at Scottish Water’s flagship anaerobic digestion (AD) plant at Deerdykes to monitor and optimise the plant, which now creates enough electricity to generate power to 2,000 homes.

Our experienced team has helped to dramatically improve the performance of the Deerdykes AD plant, based in Cumbernauld, which turns food waste from the local area into biogas for renewable power and heat generation. Since 2013,  Aqua Enviro has worked with Scottish Water plant operators, helping to troubleshoot performance issues and to develop strategies for continual plant improvement by working with staff employed at the site. As part of this work, Aqua Enviro has implemented an electronic software system which helps optimise the plant’s performance.

The Deerdykes facility was created by Scottish Water Horizons, the public utilities commercial and renewable energy business, and is one of the largest organic recycling facilities in Scotland. With recognised expertise in the fields of water, wastewater, biosolids and organic waste, Aqua Enviro has been instrumental in helping Scottish Water convert food waste into 6,000 megawatt hours of green energy each year. By optimising the anaerobic digestion process, Aqua Enviro has also helped Scottish Water Horizons reduce carbon emissions on-site and cut business waste costs.

“As a significant user of electricity, Scottish Water is working to reduce energy consumption as well as to increase the amount of energy that we generate ourselves. This can help us keep costs low for the benefit of our customers.”
Donald MacBrayne, Commercial Manager of Scottish Water Horizons