Manchester - Davyhulme

Davyhulme

United Utilities operates the Davyhulme Wastewater Treatment Works, which serves Greater Manchester and is one of the largest facilities in the United Kingdom.

To meet stricter regulations and improve economic and environmental performance across many of its sites, United Utilities adopted the thermal hydrolysis process (THP) at Davyhulme and transformed it into a sludge centre, creating Europe's largest THP plant in 2013.

This upgrade doubled digestion capacity, generated over 100 GWh of renewable energy annually, and gave United Utilities flexibility with its sludge treatment strategy. It allowed land application for the majority of its biosolids while also optimising incineration downstream for the remainder.

Selecting THP for the upgrade project resulted in significant capital and operational expenditure savings and substantially reduced the utility's environmental footprint.