Queensland sewage treatment plant to double daily wastewater treatment capacity

New environmental regulations and expected population growth have led Unitywater to expand its existing sewage treatment plant in Maleny, Queensland. The centrepiece of the upgrade will be GE’s LEAPmbr membrane bioreactor (MBR) wastewater treatment technology, expected to allow the plant to double the amount of water treated per day to one million litres.

Simon Taylor, executive manager infrastructure planning and capital delivery at Unitywater, said: “By upgrading our plant, we’ll be able to treat more wastewater to meet the needs of a growing population, while also meeting stringent environmental regulations and minimising costs.”

GE’s LEAPmbr technology helps councils and industrial wastewater treatment facilities around the world address their pressing water quality issues while increasing overall productivity of the treatment system. Now it will help Unitywater meet environmental guidelines for safe, high-quality water in a recreational area which is also upstream of a water supply catchment.

GE will provide its LEAPmbr and ZeeWeed 500D MBR technology to Monadelphous, the Australian engineering, construction, maintenance and industrial services company that will upgrade the plant. The technology includes modules, cassettes, blowers, permeate pumps and turbidity meters.

Ish Hakim, ANZ sales manager for GE Power & Water, said: “Unitywater’s upgraded Maleny plant will use an innovative solution of LEAPmbr technology and ZeeWeed 500 membranes to increase treatment capacity in a compact footprint. The added wastewater treatment capacity will help Maleny keep up with the tourist region’s expected population growth over the next decade.”

The facility is expected to begin operation at the end of 2013.