Energy Efficiency Strategies for Sewage Treatment Plant A Case Study in Malaysia

Malaysian government aims to have 99 percent of the population served by clean and treated water by 2020. However, the wastewater and sewage treatment are left behind in terms of development of drinking water counterpart. The lack of sustainability in the sewage industry is a result of high operation and maintenance costs and environmental threats. It is in the best interest for operator to find efficiencies in energy use to reduce operation and maintenance costs. Performing energy audits at sewage treatment systems is one way community energy managers can identify opportunities to save money and energy. In this paper, the importance of energy use in sewage systems is illustrated by a case study of a process energy audit performed for a sewage treatment plant located at South Peninsular Malaysia. The energy audit identified opportunities for significant energy savings by looking at power intensive unit processes such as oxidation ditch, sludge thickener, office and compound and clarifier. The audit recommends a total of six Energy Saving Measures for this plant. From the analysis, findings showed that by implementing all measures, 244496 kWh per year which is similar to amount RM 87457 per year can be saved. This case study presents best practices that can be readily adopted by operators in their pursuit of energy and financial savings in sewage treatment system.