How Bournemouth Water's pilot plant is paving the future for water

18th December 2023

About the pilot plant

What’s a pilot plant? I hear you say. Well, it’s a unique and innovative system to trial the performance of our processes, on a small scale, before using it on a large industrial scale. It’s basically a mini treatment works where we can test water quality. This is used to identify risks before full-scale production takes place, enabling our engineers and scientists to test different processes, including the flow of water, water quality and chemical usage.

The pilot plant is instrumental in allowing us to understand and adapt to water demand changes, while improving water quality to meet seasonal changes. 

The new technology not only improves the resilience of our systems under different conditions, it also makes it adaptable and easier to plan operations and demand.  This ensures we can maintain high water quality standards all year-round for our customers.

But there’s more! It allows us to have a resilient and robust water purification system under challenging and changing conditions, including the effects of climate change.

We will use the pilot plant to learn and improve the effectiveness of our water filtration.

The Techy stuff!

CeraMac™ is a ceramic membrane-based filtration system that effectively filters and accelerates clean water production sustainably. It is durable, reliable, and environmentally friendly.

CeraMac™ can be used to replace existing polymer-based filtrations systems which are known to be more susceptible to breakage with shorter lifespans, reducing its effectiveness. Filtration is through a 0.1um in pore size, meaning enhanced protection against bacteria and suspended solids.

Lee Cassidy, principal scientist at Bournemouth Water, said: “the testing we conducted with the use of the pilot plant allows us to trial the treatment processes which are planned for the replacement at Alderney and Knapp Mill WTW in real time. It also shows how effective this technology is at ensuring a stable, efficient and environmentally friendly treatment solution for the future of these two water treatment works”.

The pilot plant will ensure greater efficiency, leading to less energy and costs as a sustainable form of processing, paving the future for water worldwide.