Business Development Managers Dale Foster and Adrian Heneghan explain why HUBER’s space-saving CarbonWin® solution provides significant reductions in energy use, carbon emissions and operating costs, together with major reductions in initial investment compared to traditional primary settlement tanks.

Dale Foster/ Adrian Heneghan: The water and wastewater companies in England and Wales are already in the process of upping their spend to improve their wastewater treatment processes during the remaining two years of AMP7. In addition, their draft business proposals for AMP8 suggest that there will be a further significant increase in their investment programmes for the five years between 2025 – 2030.

With the pressure on to keep a lid on costs and cut carbon emissions, we’re seeing a growing level of interest in our CarbonWin® solution which provides significant reductions in energy use, carbon emissions and operating costs, together with major reductions in initial investment compared to traditional primary settlement tanks.

HUBER already have over 70+ CarbonWin® installations in place - primarily in Europe, Switzerland and Scandinavia – and we are expecting to see more put in place in the UK as awareness of the major benefits they deliver grows.

Last year Ofwat called on the water companies to go further on Net Zero and reduce embedded carbon emissions from future infrastructure projects, in addition to operational carbon emissions. HUBER’s CarbonWin® solution ticks both boxes.

So what does it consist of?

The CarbonWin® process consists of two primary elements which make up the solution - specifically, HUBER’s Drum Screen Liquid (DSL) and the S- DISC Sludge Thickener for improving digester performance. The screen is designed for new or existing small to medium sized sewage works which need additional capacity. It takes screened raw sewage and can remove more than 60% Suspended Solids and over 40% BOD. The HUBER Drum Screen Liquid (DSL) is typically combined with the HUBER S-DISC Sludge Thickener to generate 5-6% sludge for digestion.

Starting with the DSL, this offers the water companies a key opportunity to replace the primary settlement tanks which are conventionally used in the wastewater treatment process. Generally speaking, the construction of primary settlement tanks at wastewater treatment works represents a major up-front capital investment and involves a significant amount of embedded carbon. In terms of operational carbon, the aeration process is also highly energy-intensive, carbon-hungry and inevitably incurs significant and ongoing expenditure.

In contrast, the DSL’s energy efficient fine screen technology removes primary sludge from raw sewage far more effectively than settlement. With its low power consumption it achieves around a 40% reduction in aeration demand, cutting energy costs and reducing the requirement for conventional primary clarification. In addition, the associated process change from aerobic to anaerobic delivers improved sludge volumes for increased gas generation and can remove more than 60% SS and over 40% BOD.

The screen is designed for either new installations or existing small to medium sized sewage works which need additional capacity. With a footprint at just one tenth of the size of a conventional primary tank, the DSL allows low cost works expansion without the need for increased secondary capacity.

So for a new scheme, instead of building a primary settlement tank, the water companies have the alternative option of installing the DSL and using that as part of the upstream biological process to actually reduce the aeration that is required.

The other key element of the CarbonWin® process is the HUBER S-DISC– with a compact design, this can achieve sludge volume reduction of up to 90%. When this is integrated with the DSL it further optimises the operational sludge treatment process. Instead of mixing the sludge before aeration, the DSL enables it to be mixed further downstream.

Given that a lot of the works are smaller sites, fitting the compact DSL with a S-DISC to treat the sludge as it comes off is a highly effective and relatively straightforward solution which delivers significant savings.

Further housing development, the impacts of climate change and population growth will inevitably put pressure on existing treatment works, resulting in capacity being outstripped.

The water companies will no doubt be considering their options – so CarbonWin® offers them a straightforward cost-effective solution which can mitigate the pressures for expansion at sites with limited land availability instead of using conventional primary tanks.

For companies interested in finding out more, we also have data from trial work at a UK wastewater treatment works which compared the operational performance of the DSL with that of the existing equipment in place.

The data shows the demonstrable benefits of the CarbonWin® solution – invaluable for managers seeking to make a business case. Just as an example, compared with building a primary tank for half a million pounds which will necessitate having a construction team on site for six months, HUBER’s CarbonWin® system is likely to come in at half the cost and be in place within 16 to 18 weeks.

We also want to emphasise that this is not a solution which is still at an early innovative stage. We already have a significant installed customer base across Europe and beyond and we’re also seeing growing uptake in Scotland - primarily as part of the meaningful strategy for Net Zero in place there.

To sum up, HUBER’s CarbonWin® solution is already helping customers to maximise energy output from their operational processes and reduce their operational carbon emissions and we’re confident we’ll be making further inroads into this growing market.

Follow this link to watch a schematic video showcasing how the CarbonWin® operates - HUBER CarbonWin Solution- Animation - YouTube

To find out more about the process contact:

Dale Foster at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and mobile on 07980 316059

Adrian Heneghan at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  and mobile 07540 667094