15 October 2007

Auckland biogas plant announced engineering excellence finalist

Auckland’s Watercare Biogas Cogeneration Plant was announced a category finalist in the 2007 New Zealand Engineering Excellence (NZEE) Awards today.

The third New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are the premier awards for New Zealand engineering professionals. The awards are presented in two major areas: Individual Awards, that recognise leadership, entrepreneurship, and our young engineers; and Category Awards, that recognise achievement in the various industry areas, together with a Supreme Award for the best of the Category winners.

Watercare Services Ltd processes wastewater for Auckland. The Mangere plant where all of Auckland’s wastewater is treated is the largest in New Zealand.

Electricity is used at the plant for processing sewage, and heat is used for process heating in the anaerobic digesters.
Using new technology solutions never used before in New Zealand, consultancy Maunsell Ltd designed and engineered the Biogas Cogeneration Plant which is attached to the wastewater treatment facility.

The plan now generates up to 6.776MWe electricity and 8MW(th) hot water from methane gas (biogas) extracted from the digestion process.

Engineering consultancy Maunsell found during research into international best practice that the options currently in use at other wastewater treatment plants fell short of Watercare’s objectives for efficiency, maintenance and overall environmental friendliness. An innovative approach was adopted to introduce new technology solutions that included: zero waste methane gas control as well as noise and odour reduction.

David Elms, Convenor of the Category Awards judging panel said that the calibre of finalist projects highlighted the contribution that professional engineers make to New Zealand on a social, economic and environmental scale.

“These projects made the finalist cut because they each are outstanding examples of engineering innovation”, says Mr Elms. “This year’s finalists impressed the judges by demonstrating how their projects contributed to the national economy and the reputation of New Zealand engineering and impacted on quality of life in their communities”.

Winners of both individual and category awards will be announced at a black-tie gala dinner at TE PAPA, Wellington on Wednesday, 21 November 2007.

The New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are hosted by a consortium of five partners and 10 contributing organisations. The partners are: Centre for Advanced Engineering (CAE); Association of Local Government Engineering New Zealand Incorporated (INGENIUM); Electricity Engineers Association of New Zealand (EEA); Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand (ACENZ); and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand Inc (IPENZ).