The first Scottish installation of Zickert sludge treatment technology from Hydro International is promising to increase primary sludge extraction and lower operating costs at a Lanarkshire waste water treatment works (WWTW) in an £800,000 contract.

Scottish Water Solutions (Solutions) is undertaking a major upgrade of the Hamilton WWTW, south of Glasgow, which serves a population of around 75,000.  Following a rigorous procurement process, Hydro International’s Zickert top and bottom sludge scraping equipment has been selected for a sensitive retrofit project to achieve more efficient removal of primary sludge.

The work includes removal of the existing travelling bridge scrapers on four primary sludge settlement tanks which take screened raw sewage and discharge the effluent for secondary and tertiary treatment.

“We required a lightweight, energy efficient alternative to the existing equipment, and which could fit within the existing tanks,” commented Solutions Construction Manager Paul Sharp. “The tanks are around 40 years old, so we did not want to overstress them with heavy travelling bridges.

“Additionally, less expensive whole life costs were important and we needed better sludge extraction and cleaner effluent than alternatives, such as bridge refurbishment, would have been able to deliver. We chose the Zickert equipment after a rigorous procurement process as it meets all our requirements.”

The new Zickert sludge scraping equipment is designed to extract up to 2,220,000 litres of 1.5-3% dry solids thickened sludge a day for additional treatment and dewatering. High extraction rates enable downstream effluent treatment to be more efficient and to discharge a higher quality final product.

The Zickert sludge scraper has a low-profile design specially designed for continuous transportation of sludge with a gentle action which yields higher volumes of sludge than conventional systems at the primary treatment stage.

The lightweight, energy efficient Zickert units can help to deliver lower through-life costs. The very small footprint is suitable for space constrained installations.

For more information about Hydro’s Zickert sludge scraper or any of its Water and Wastewater treatment products, please contact 01353 645700, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.hydro-international.biz

Client: Solutions is a joint venture partnership between Scottish Water and some of the world’s leading construction, engineering and water companies. The delivery vehicle will construct hundreds of projects across Scotland, as part of Scottish Water’s £2.5billion investment programme over the next 5 years (2010 – 2015).