A new ground-breaking technique for making power and fertilizer from a waste product has today won a top green business award for United Utilities.The process converts the "sludge" created by treating wastewater into useful by-products and has been installed by the company at its treatment works in Macclesfield and Bromborough, with Blackburn and Crewe next.United Utilities’ new innovation has beaten entries from throughout the region to win the Environmental Technologies award in today’s North West Business Environment Awards.

 Shanthi Rasaratnam, United Utilities programme manager, said: "Sludge is the by-product you have left after cleaning society’s wastewater, and an awful lot of it is produced every single day."We produce more sludge now than ever before because wastewater has to be treated to such high standards in order to help keep our rivers, streams and coastal waters clean."The new process can be added onto the front of existing sludge treatment facilities, helping avoid unnecessary cost and disruption.Shanthi, who received an MBE in 2003 for services to the water industry, explained: "Traditional sludge treatment is known as digestion, and it actually works like an artificial stomach, breaking down organic material with enzymes and bacteria."The new technology works like a mouth – it begins to break down the food before it even gets to the stomach, making the process much more efficient."The innovation is called High Rate Enzymic Hydrolysis and was developed in partnership with Monsal Limited.It converts the sludge into a rich, benign soil nutrient that
meets the highest EU specifications so it can be used more extensively for agriculture as a soil improver.
At the same time, the treatment process itself generates valuable biogas which can be used as fuel to generate electricity. Enough gas is produced at the Blackburn wastewater treatment works to supply 1.5 megawatts of power to the National Grid, saving in harmful carbon emissions.Shanthi added: "Any new technology that increases the value of sludge to the environment and saves money is hugely important to the water industry."

Hosted by the Mersey Basin Campaign and Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), the North West Business Environment Awards celebrate the success of the region’s most innovative companies in combining outstanding environmental performance with outstanding business performance.