BWEA

The outstanding performance of the BWEA team was again recognised at the Queensland Engineering Excellence Awards where BWEA received Highly Commended Award in the Environment Division for its Oxley Creek project.

Oxley Creek Water Reclamation Plant not only has reduced the discharge of nutrients to our river and Moreton Bay, but it has also introduced a number of major new initiatives for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere.

Theses include:

• Thermal Sludge Hydrolysis – this plant 'pressure cooks' sludges emanating from the treatment process resulting in their being better able to be digested. The result is that biogas production has been increased about 50% resulting in the generation of more green energy from the plant.
• The mass and volume of biomass produced has been reduced substantially and truck movements associated with Brisbane Water's biomass handling have been reduced by 60% with attendant benefits to the environment and reducing traffic from our roads.
• The resulting biomass meets class 'A' requirements, enabling it to be used in potting mixes and in gardens, eliminating the need to buy soils for parks and gardens in the city.
• A nutrient rich stream associated with the plant has been treated to recover struvite, a slow release fertiliser product from what has been a waste.

The Oxley Creek has also become a very much better neighbour with odour from the plant now treated and contained well within the site boundaries resulting in work at the plant also being far more pleasant.

In every way, the environment has been a winner in the extraordinary efforts that BWEA has made to deliver facilities that are recognised by the Institution of Engineers as leading the world.