Acquedotto Pugliese has completed the renovation and upgrading of the Bari West purification plant, increasing by almost 50% the treatment capacity of the plants which was increased from 241.000 to 360.000 population equivalent.
Renovation works – for a total of 35 million euros, co-financed by the Puglia Region and the AIP (Pugliese Water Authority) – guarantee high returns thanks to the adoption of technologies and functional schemes of circular economy.
More specifically it was possible contain energy and maintenance costs, through automated systems, with energy recovery of the biogas produced from sludge digestion (9.000 Nmc/d), reused in a circular manner in the form of thermal energy (28.000 kWh/d) and electricity (15.000 kWh/d).
The intervention concerned the three treatment stations relating to the water, sludge and process exhaust air treatment lines, with execution carried out at the same time as the plant was running, ensuring purification treatments in each work phase, without solution of continuity, for the entire duration of the works.
It was also increased exercise flexibility, providing for alternative treatments, capable of ensuring maximum efficiency even in the event of planned stops for ordinary or extraordinary maintenance.
Lastly, particular attention was paid to the minimization of waste production, obtained through the creation of a thermal dryer capable of ensuring a dehydration of the sludge up to over 90% of dry percentage.
At the same time, the planimetric dimensions and the hydraulic profile of the buildings have been optimized, limiting the use of the land and the accessibility of the works, with particular regard to the safety conditions of the workers thanks to the concentration of the command and control panels in one same place.
“With this new construction, the city of Bari is equipped with absolutely excellent plant engineering – he commented the president of AQP, Simeone di Cagno Abbrescia -, destined to have a profound effect on the efficiency of the service provided to citizens, in an urban area as important and fundamental as that of the regional capital and some nearby municipalities. A fundamental work for the quality of life of citizens, for which credit must be given to the sensitivity of the Regional Council, to the planning capacity of the Acquedotto Pugliese board of directors and to the planning skills of our technicians”.
Acquedotto Pugliese manages water networks for 20 km, serving over 4 million citizens. In the water service is the largest public company in the South.
