The water industry regulator Ofwat has put the building blocks in place to kick-start the developing bio resources market and the wider water sector is gearing up to take advantage of the potential business opportunities opening up.

High energy and nutrient content mean sewage sludge is now regarded by the wastewater sector as a major opportunity for significant value recovery and revenues. In addition to energy generation, there is also considerable potential for the recovery of other bio renewable materials and industrial chemicals.

Backed up by extensive experience over the past 25 years in the UK wastewater treatment industry, we are flagging up the importance of finding the correct solution for sludge treatment. With over 1110 sludge installations in the UK, we have many years of extensive knowledge and experienced engineers to help you find the correct sludge solution.

HUBER’s large and innovative product range is already in use at over 1110 wastewater treatment works /industrial applications across the UK at every stage of the sludge treatment process including:

• Sludge Screening
• Sludge Thickening
• Sludge Dewatering
• Sludge Drying

The different stages of sludge treatment include Sludge Screening where we have two pieces of equipment the HUBER Ro3 and HUBER Sludgecleaner STRAINPRESS® with a combined900 sludge-screening installations in the UK.

HUBER Technology’s Sludge Acceptance Plant ROTAMAT® Ro3 is the perfect unit for tankered sludge coarse screening with a throughput capacity of up to 320m3/hr (dependant on dry solids content) The ROTAMAT® Ro3 is manufactured from stainless steel, which minimises corrosion and ensures the unit is very robust. The Ro3 is already in use at 518 UK reference sites.

For fine screening of sludge HUBER Technology have the HUBER Sludgecleaner STRAINPRESS® unit. This product is suitable for indigenous sludge’s or sludge’s that have normally been prescreened. The sludge is screened up to 5mm in 2D, with finer meshes available and is dewatered to 35-45% DS. Both of the above screens incorporate screening, screenings washing (Ro3) and dewatering in one containerised unit using one single drive. HUBER have 382 reference sites for the STRAINPRESS® in the UK.

Key benefits of HUBER sludge screening are:

• High solids removal
• Low energy consumption
• Simple robust design
• Fully automated operation
• Containerised unit reducing odour
• 900 UK installations

Next in the sludge treatment process is sludge thickening where it is required to reduce storage volume on site, if the site is too small for dewatering to be viable then reducing the volume ofsludge will reduce the transport costs.

The HUBER Disc Thickener S-DISC is suitable for smaller satellite sites. It is an inclined enclosed unit with a feed capacity up to 40 m3/hr. It is available in two sizes with a compact footprint. It achieves 25% lower operating costs than equivalent drum thickeners and up to 40% lower capital cost.

The HUBER Rotary Screw Thickener S-DRUM has a feed capacity up to 110m3/hr and is available in two sizes. It achieves a 20% reduction in operating costs against an equivalent gravity belt thickener (G.B.T) and a 50 % reduction in maintenance costs. Its unique design offers better process robustness and durability than a G.B.T.

Key benefits of HUBER sludge thickening are:

• Low energy & polymer consumption
• Easy setup & low operator attendance
• Installed inside and outside
• Unique design & compact footprint
• Simple robust design
• Offsite build packages available
• Enclosed design for safety and odour retention
• 130 UK installations

Following on from sludge thickening on site, some sites could carry out the next process by sludge dewatering. Sludge dewatering helps achieve a dryer cake for transportation and storage, which again reduces sludge transport costs.

The HUBER Screw Press Q-PRESS® is available in four sizes and is suitable for smaller sites. It has a variable throughput up to 30m3/h (540kg DS/h) input and achieves a high dewatering performance.

The Q-PRESS® has an 80% reduction in power compared to a centrifuge and 30% reduction in chemicals. The HUBER Screw Press S-PRESS can process a variable throughput up to 10m3/hr with a single unit.

Key benefits of sludge dewatering are:

• Low polymer requirements
• Efficient and reliable operation
• Low power and water consumption
• Minimum operator attendance
• 79 UK installations

Once sludge has been screened, thickened and / or dewatered, we have one final solution to offer, which is sludge drying. HUBER sludge dryers provide a new and innovative way to complete the sludge treatment process. The first UK project was delivered in 2017 on the Isle of Man, and with 43 installations worldwide, HUBER are world leaders in this growing area. Thermal Sludge Drying will help to achieve >90% dry solids for reduced handling, storage and disposal costs. The HUBER Belt Dryer BT, which uses a special sludge palletising technology and heat re-circulation, provides excellent product quality and reliability.

Key benefits of sludge drying are:

• Fuel / fertilizer re-use
• Reduces costs for transport & storage
• Reduced odour during storage
• Low energy requirements
• Fully automated operation
• 1 UK installation & 43(Global)

HUBER also has a range of sludge thickening and dewatering trial plants available for customers to trial on their process streams. HUBER’s trial unit fleet include:

• HUBER Screw Press Q-PRESS® - sludge dewatering
• HUBER Screw Press S-PRESS – sludge dewatering
• HUBER Skid mounted S-DISC- sludge thickening

We have a list of case studies and reference sites for any of the above applications available by request to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or for further information on all HUBER products visit the website www.huber.co.uk