Design of a Wastewater Treatment Plant on the Acelhuate River, El Salvador
The state-owned power generation company Comisión Ejecutiva Hidroeléctrica del Río Lempa not only wants to build a wastewater treatment plant in San Salvador that is self-sufficient in terms of energy costs, but also to achieve an electricity yield that exceeds the treatment plant's own needs sixfold by making optimal use of the power generation options with sewage gas, photovoltaics and hydropower on the site of the new plant.
The planned treatment plant features an anaerobic treatment process with UASB reactors followed by trickling filters as biological treatment stage. In this process, biogas for the generation of electric power is produced.
Furthermore, the conceptual plant design includes a photovoltaic system on the plant’s premises as well as a small hydroelectric power plant, which shall make use of the gross head of about 33.5 m of the water treated in the treatment plant.
This innovative concept creates a source of income that could also solve the problem of a lack of funding for wastewater treatment plants in many other countries.
More information: Blog post at FICHTNER CONNECTED
Fichtner-Leistungen
- Topographic survey (during design/construction)
- Subsoil investigations
- Sampling / Analysis
- Geophysical studies
- Hydraulic investigations
- Final design
- Tender docs / Tender action
Technische Daten
- Beneficiaries: 1,655,000 inhabitants (majority of the population of the San Salvador metropolitan region)
- Wastewater collector with a length of about 3.2 km, DN 1,200; 1 km trenchless installation (microtunnelling)
- Wastewater treatment plant: UASB process, trickling filters, capacity of about 118,400 m³/d
- Biogas production and storage
- Electric power generation from biogas (1.70 MW)
- Photovoltaic system (3.17 MWp)
- Small hydropower plant (0.56 MW)
