Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc., Vancouver, B.C., and Murphy Ireland Ltd., Dublin, Ireland, on April 28 announced the signing of definitive agreements to supply key Ostara nutrient recovery technologies as part of the larger facilities upgrade project being undertaken by Irish Water at the Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant in Dublin, Ireland.
Ringsend is the national utility’s largest wastewater treatment plant, treating over 40 percent of the country’s wastewater, and it is undergoing a major upgrade to support future population growth and comply with the European Union Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive to protect nearby waterbodies.
Built in 2005, the current wastewater treatment plant is the largest in Ireland and was designed to cater for an equivalent of 1.64 million people. It is currently overloaded and is not in compliance with the E.U. Directive. The average daily load received in 2019 was 1.98 million population equivalent, with peaks well in excess of this. Upon completion of the upgrade scheduled for 2025, Ringsend is projected to have the treatment capacity of 2.4 million.
Ostara’s nutrient recovery technology and Murphy’s infrastructure construction and delivery have been selected, following a public procurement process, to help Irish Water meet these regulatory directives and mitigate nutrient issues at Ringsend.
Ostara will provide its Ostara Pearl® 10K reactor and “Wasstrip®” technology to recover phosphorus and nitrogen from wastewater streams to produce the company’s Crystal Green ® fertilizer products, which are sold globally into the turf, ornamental, and agriculture markets. Ostara estimates the project will provide it with the technology to produce 14 mt/d of Crystal Green, which will be distributed in Europe and North America.
Construction of the Ostara component is scheduled for completion in 2022. The nutrient recovery system is to be operational in 2023.