Yorkshire Water’s state-of-the-art £72 million anaerobic digestion plant at Knostrop Energy and Recycling Facility in Leeds has officially been opened.
The facility, which opened last Friday (28 June), is Yorkshire Water’s biggest single investment in the last five years and, the company claims, will “significantly reduce the carbon footprint” of the site.
Sludge is imported from across the Yorkshire Water region and treated in the county’s biggest digesters, which have the capacity to treat 131 tonnes per day.
Over a two-week period the digesters convert the sludge into a fertiliser which is used for agriculture. They also create a biogas that is turned into green electricity.
According to Yorkshire Water the site will create enough electricity to run 55 per cent of the facility, the equivalent of powering 7,600 homes.
The water company has an ambition to be carbon neutral by 2030, with the firm reducing its carbon footprint by 80 per cent over the past 10 years.
Furthermore the site will recycle almost all of the sewage sludge in Leeds.
Yorkshire Water director of wastewater delivery, Ben Roche, said: “Environment and keeping customer bills as low as possible are huge priorities for us at Yorkshire Water and are two of our five big goals.
“The Knostrop Energy and Recycling Facility shows our commitment to a more sustainable future and I am thrilled at the difference it will make.
“There is plenty more to come and we will continue to invest in innovation and look at ways we can reduce our carbon footprint to become carbon neutral by 2030.”
Leeds Central MP Hilary Benn attended the official opening.
He said: “The opening of the new anaerobic digestion plant at Knostrop treatment works is a really important investment in our future.
“By recycling 94 per cent of the sewage sludge in Leeds to create enough electricity to power over half of the treatment works’ energy needs, this scheme is helping to create a lower carbon future in the Lower Aire Valley.”