Anglian Water brings Atlantic Pumps onboard as a new supplier, leading to quick cost-saving wins and a resilient future.
Bio-resources have become an increasingly important frontier in the water industry, as pressure mounts to decarbonise cost-effectively. Sludge separation and bioresource recovery offer significant opportunities but bring abrasive and problematic sludges that can be difficult to master. Grit can quickly degrade the efficiency of infrastructure and equipment in waterworks and Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plants, increasing downtime, energy cost, manual inventions, and severely shortening the lifetime of assets.
High-performing Anglian Water covers a rapidly growing population and rising water demand, and is committed to bringing environmental and social prosperity to the communities it serves. This is being done whilst keeping customer bills low and infrastructure resilient.
Always innovating and making smarter investment decisions across its entire supply-chain, Anglian Water set out to rethink their sludge management strategy and tackle its TOTEX (total expenditure) cost head-on.
Keen to learn from other industries that have long dealt with sludge and grit challenges, Anglian Water recently engaged on a project with Atlantic Pumps, the niche manufacturer of pump and treatment systems for abrasive fluids and slurries.
Atlantic Pumps’ heritage began in the mining and aggregate industry, where the effective management of sludge, solids, and grit separation has long been a critical success factor. Their experience in handling grit and sludge in heavy industries is bringing fresh ideas and innovation to Anglian.
Demand for Atlantic Pumps’ technology and expertise in the biomass sector, and now the water industry, is soaring as the need to lower TOTEX becomes more pressing.
Keeping TOTEX under control, whilst managing grit and abrasive slurries is something the mining industry has perfected over decades. This experience is something the Bioresources team at Anglian Water is keen to exploit.
A Bioresources manager from Anglian Water commented, “We are very impressed with the potential shown by the fresh and innovative approach of Atlantic Pumps”. They further revealed, “on just one
application, with just one innovation, Atlantic Pumps are set to reduce our annual OPEX [operating expenditure] from £65k down to £28k”.
Crucially for Anglian Water, Atlantic Pumps offer a tailored solution delivering either their own developed and manufactured systems, or incorporating equipment from other stables, where required for best outcome.
Nathan Rowles, Director at Atlantic Pumps explains their approach, “’What is best practice in this application, what is the best solution for our client?’ rather than ‘which of our [existing] products can we push’ to them.”
He continues “our focus is to lower TOTEX for the client, sourcing from the widest range of respected partners, and developing our own solutions, where there is a gap. This leads to sustainable, long-term relationships, evidenced by the steady growth of the company over recent years; in staff skills, partnerships, revenue, and most importantly, proven solutions. We back all this up with a market-leading response, delivery, and quoting speed!”
