AN IRISH firm specialising in wastewater treatment technology has scooped two prestigious British industry awards in two days.
The Galway-based NVP Energy firm, which also has offices in Dublin and Kent, won the Innovation Award for Energy from Waste at the Environment & Energy (E&E) Awards held at the Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham.
The impressive accolade came just 24 hours after the clean-tech firm – which has developed Lt-AD technology, which turns industrial wastewater into a revenue-generating biogas for its clients - was announced as the winner of the Most Innovative New Technology of the Year award at the Water Industry Achievement Awards.
NVP Energy Managing Director Michael Murray told The Irish Post: “Winning these awards is a testament to the unique and innovative nature of the Lt-AD technology and these recent awards reinforce the technological and environmental benefits the Lt-AD technology can bring to the global wastewater and energy industries."
With development of their technology beginning at the National University of Ireland in Galway 15 years ago, the finished product was ready for market in 2013, when NVP Energy was launched.
Since then the innovative Lt-AD - Low temperature Anaerobic Digestion – product has been trialed and proven to be effective on a number of industrial waste streams, including municipal, dairy, brewing, malting & distilling and meat processing.
“Lt-AD treats low strength wastewater in a sustainable way – as it is carbon neutral and energy positive, removes up to 90% of the organic sludge and recovers valuable biogas in the process that is 100% available to the end user for onsite electricity and/or heat generation,” the company explains.
“It is the first to market, high-rate anaerobic digestion technology that successfully treats low strength wastewater at ambient temperatures,” they add.
The company, which is supported by Enterprise Ireland, has recently been awarded the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund from Britain’s Department of Energy & Climate Change.
The grant will support the delivery of a full scale Lt-AD reactor at a UK Food & Drinks wastewater treatment plant by March 2016.
“This is a hugely important milestone for NVP Energy as it will allow us to validate the technology at full-scale at a time when wastewater treatment plant operators are seeking new superior wastewater treatment technologies,” Mr Murray added.
