UK first for Scottish Water, using innovative wastewater emissions measurement tech

Scottish Water is demonstrating technology leadership with a UK and Sector first deployment of Grandperspective's scanfeld®. 

This revolutionary new gas emissions monitoring technology utilises Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) technology to identify, quantify (to parts per million) and localise over 200 different types of molecules from up to 2 kilometres away.

As a result, it can quantify large areas of land for their gas emissions, such as a wastewater treatment works (WWTW). 

Currently the industry uses point source emissions monitoring which only provides a localised understanding of emissions in a selected area. 

Now, scanfeld® will be used for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions monitoring and quantification to understand what our baseline emissions are for Nitrous oxide, Methane and Carbon dioxide at Scottish Water's WWTW.

By identifying where on its WWTWs GHGs are being emitted, it is hoped these emissions faster can be mitigated faster. 

With over 1800 WWTW distributed across the country in cities, towns and rural areas they are a known greenhouse gas emissions source. However, identifying, quantifying and locating the sources of these emissions is a big challenge. 

To address this emissions challenge, Scottish Water leveraged their dedicated research and innovation programme, the Hydro Nation Chair (HNC), to identify and source possible technological innovations and solutions in support of their Net Zero strategy. 

The HNC Technology Programme, led by Senior Innovation Fellow, David Millar has been working closely with Susan Lee, Scottish Water’s tesearch & innovation net zero programme lead, to identify and assess over 200 technology businesses from around the world.

From this activity, a handful of technologies were selected for further trials, including scanfeld®, which has just been deployed at a WwTW near Glasgow in this UK and Water sector first.

David Millar, senior innovation fellow at the University of Stirling, said: “We have selected this technology for trial because it offers a level of granular detail which we hope will deepen our understanding of emissions from wastewater treatment plants. Identifying, quantifying, and locating the sources of emissions at these plants is vital as we work towards the target of going beyond Net Zero by 2040.”

George Ponton, head of research and innovation at Scottish Water said: “The Hydro Nation Chair programme has been established to bring thought leadership, research excellence and innovative solutions from Scotland and beyond; focused on addressing the key challenges facing the water sector in Scotland.”

It is hoped the technology will now give Scottish Water much more granularity on the types of emissions, the quantities and sources so that they can further refine their process emissions strategy and approach in order to go beyond Net Zero by 2040.

Susan Lee – Net Zero programme lead at Scottish Water said: “This is a great opportunity for Scottish Water to start understanding how much we are emitting on a whole wastewater treatment site scale by using the scanfeld® system and collaborating with Grandperspective this will complement the industry best practice methods we are already adopting of point source monitoring to quantify our emissions”

Peter Maas - chief technology officer, Grandperspective said: “We eagerly anticipate the results of Scottish Water's scanfeld® deployment. The technology's potential to drive sustainability and facilitate emissions monitoring is truly promising."