Permission has been granted for Yorkshire Water’s proposed £72 million new state of the art sludge treatment and anaerobic digestion facility at its Knostrop works in the heart of Leeds.

Leeds City Council’s planning committee approved the firm’s planning proposal for the bio-energy facility.

The contract has been awarded to Black & Veatch, with Clugston Construction to deliver the civil engineering element.

Knostrop wastewater treatment works has been treating sewage from domestic properties and industry for around 100 years.

The existing sludge and bio-solid incinerator, which was constructed in 1993, will be replaced by the new facility to enable the more effective and efficient treatment of sewage combined with the added benefit of renewable power production from the wastewater effluent.

Director of Asset Management at Yorkshire Water, Nevil Muncaster, commented: “This is the single biggest investment of our current investment period (2015-2020) and will not only provide increased treatment capacity for our sludges but will also deliver significant operational cost savings enabling us to keep customer bills as low as possible.

“Knostrop is designated as a strategic waste site so by increasing the future sludge and bio-solid treatment capacity of the works the project will support also growth in the Leeds sub-regions.”

The facility is planned to be complete in 2019 and will have the capability to process 131 tonnes of dry sludge daily, and will generate enough renewable energy, using power and heat engines, to provide 55% of Knostrop’s energy needs.

Among the benefits of the new facility are:

15 per cent reduction in carbon emissions across the company

Provide 55 per cent of the site’s energy needs

Contribute to achieving 94 per cent recycling of the region’s sludge by 2020.

The project is Yorkshire Water’s latest step in committing to invest in renewable energy to benefit the environment and keep customer bills low.