Alexandria - West

Alexandria West Wastewater Treatment Plant

The Alexandria West wastewater treatment plant is undergoing a major upgrade to increase treatment capacity, introduce biological treatment and anaerobic digestion, and improve wastewater management for the city’s growing population.

As part of the project, four Cambi Thermal Hydrolysis Process (THP) systems will treat biological solids before anaerobic digestion. The installation marks Cambi’s first project in Egypt and will help the upgraded plant increase digestion capacity, generate more renewable energy and substantially reduce the volume of final solids requiring disposal.

Increasing capacity while reducing infrastructure needs

Alexandria West is one of Alexandria’s two main wastewater treatment plants, serving the city’s central and western neighbourhoods. Expanding the facility presents particular challenges due to limited available land, poor ground conditions and high groundwater levels.

By pre-treating the biological solids before anaerobic digestion, Cambi THP enables the digesters to operate at substantially higher loading rates. As a result, the upgraded plant requires eight digesters instead of 16.

Avoiding the construction of eight additional digesters – and their deep foundations – significantly reduces the civil construction requirements while helping conserve valuable space at the site.

Turning sludge into renewable energy

Thermal hydrolysis makes the organic matter in sludge more readily biodegradable, improving the performance of the subsequent anaerobic digestion process.

At Alexandria West, this will increase biogas production and enable greater renewable electricity generation. The additional energy recovered from the sludge is expected to make the wastewater treatment plant energy self-sufficient, reducing its reliance on external electricity.

Reducing final solids and transport

Cambi THP also improves sludge dewaterability, producing a drier final product and reducing the amount of material that needs to be transported for disposal.

The reduction at Alexandria West is expected to be equivalent to approximately 20 fewer 25-tonne truckloads of final solids every day. This will reduce disposal requirements as well as the transport associated with moving solids away from the plant.

Improving wastewater management in Alexandria

The wider Alexandria West upgrade is designed to help the plant meet Egyptian effluent standards while reducing pollution affecting nearby lakes, bays and the Mediterranean Sea.

Together, increased treatment capacity, anaerobic digestion, thermal hydrolysis and renewable energy recovery will support a more efficient and sustainable approach to wastewater and sludge management for one of Egypt’s largest cities.

Cambi’s scope

Cambi’s delivery for Alexandria West comprises:

• Four Thermal Hydrolysis Process (THP) systems
• Steam boilers
• Heat exchangers
• Anaerobic digestion process design
• Associated ancillary equipment

Equipment delivery is currently scheduled for 2028, with operations expected to begin in 2029.

The project is being delivered with a joint venture of Metito Water Treatment and Hassan Allam Construction. Construction is coordinated by the Egyptian Construction Authority for Potable Water and Wastewater (CAPW) and financed by the European Investment Bank, the European Union and Egyptian national resources.