Introduction
Logan City Council is one of the fastest growing regions in South East Queensland, with over 340,000 residents. In 2017, Logan City Council committed to a Carbon Reduction Strategy and action plan to be carbon neutral by 2022. Part of this plan included the upgrade of the Loganholme Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).
Background
The Loganholme WWTP produces 34,000 tonnes of biosolids (treated and partially dewatered sewage sludge) yearly. The current process involved trucking out biosolids to the Darling Downs agricultural area, approximately 100km away, which was costly. With Logan City Council’s commitment to being carbon neutral by 2022 and the rapidly growing population in the area, the WWTP was in need of an upgrade.
Solution
Logan City Council’s Logan Water, Downer Utilities and Pyrocal partnered with Ibex Australia to install Australia’s first permanent biosolids gasification facility as part of the WWTP upgrade. The plant will transform human waste into a safe, environmentally friendly fertiliser, called biochar. In addition, the machinery involved utilises heat energy from gasifying the waste to power the biosolids dryers, and therefore the plant is self-sustaining.
Downer Utilities selected Ibex Australia’s VIS-LOK® and Impress® press fit systems for the project. Pyrocal has a long history of using welded systems, but they were impressed with the speed and ease of use of our VIS-LOK® and Impress® press fit systems and the additional support Ibex Australia offered.
Result
Using VIS-LOK® and Impress® in the Loganholme Wastewater Treatment Plant ensured that the pipework installation went smoothly and as quickly as possible, which resulted in reducing costs through the reduction in labour.
Customer Testimonial
“Downer found that the VIS-LOK® and Impress® press fit systems were cheaper to install than standard ‘schedule’ pipe types. We found the press fit systems to be of high quality, and the pipes performed well during the hydrostatic testing in the commissioning phase of our project. No leaks were reported.”
Danny Vella, Project Mechanical Engineer
