The Pennant Hills Golf Club has revealed its fully operational sewer mining project. It is the first golf course in Australia to harness membrane technology.
The new wastewater treatment plant is capable of delivering 550 kilolitres of class A water per day, resulting in an additional 100 megalitres per year, every year, over the 30-year life of the design.
The project began in February 2007 when Pennant Hills Golf Club awarded the design and installation of the sewer mining system and the associated membrane bioreactor (MBR) water recycling plant to Water Technology Australia. Prior to this, Pennant Hills Golf Club had signed an access agreement with Sydney Water to allow the tapping of an existing sewer main on the course, in support of Sydney Water’s water demand management strategy.
Raw sewage is diverted into a new sewage pumping station and macerator unit to reduce size of the solids from 3 mm to 5 mm. The sewage is then fed to a balance tank, maximising the amount of sewer flow capture and diluting it before the bioreactor. The tank is equipped with mixer and odour control with two pumps (duty/standby) that discharge to the main plant. All flow from the balance tank is pumped through two fine screens located on top of the bioreactor tank and discharged into the MBR process (essential to reduce risk of membrane damage).
The project has been awarded the 2008 Sustainability Green Globe Award from the New South Wales Department of Environment & Climate Change.
Water Technology Australia is currently a business unit of Tyco Fire & Security. It will become part of the Tyco Flow Control business from October 1, 2008.
