Anglian Water is planning further investment to produce green energy from human waste

WORK is to start this month on the first of four new installations which will see human waste from Anglian Water sewage works converted into “green” energy.

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Japanese group Torishima has been contracted to carry out a series of projects involving the production of biogas from human waste through a process known as advanced anaerobic digestion.

The gas, a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide, can be used as fuel while the remaining waste material, known as “cake”, makes a useful fertiliser.

Torishima is about to start work on a project in Basildon in partnership with fellow engineering company Galliford Try Meica, with the same team due to complete a second scheme at Cliff Quay in Ipswich.

Two similar schemes, one at Colchester and another at Pyewipe in Lincolnshire, are also planned, with Torishima this time working in partnership with Black & Veatch.

Guy Forrest-Hay, Torishima’s business development manager, said: “We are delighted to be working on such high-profile projects for these prestigious clients, with a key focus on delivering carbon reduction.”

Anglian Water spokesman Antony Innes said: “We are committed to enhance our major wastewater treatment works in Essex and Suffolk in the next few years by installing anaerobic digestion facilities at each site. This process helps to improve the running of the site and the quality of the waste produced.

“Anaerobic digestion enhances the treatment process allowing us to export ‘cake’ for wider agricultural uses.”

He added: “At other sites where this process is used we are able to export some power back to the grid; this is something we hope to do in these new areas.”