Thames Water has appointed WS Atkins plc as part of a design and build consortia with Veolia Water and Costain to deliver a significant proportion of its £3 billion AMP6 investment programme.

Under a new alliance model, Thames Water has brought together two design and build consortia, a programme manager and a technology and innovation provider.

Collectively they will be responsible for delivering essential upgrades to water pipes, treatment facilities and sewers in the London and Thames Valley regions between 2015 – 2020.

The deal will "help smooth the transition between the cyclical funding periods so that key skills and capabilities are retained within the sector," said prof Dr Uwe Krueger, Atkins' chief executive officer.

"Atkins and our joint venture and alliance partners will help Thames Water achieve the good value, innovative, sustainable and effective solutions it demands for its millions of customers,” added Krueger.

Aker Solutions has won a contract to test and study the capture of carbon dioxide from flue gas emitted by the cement industry.

The award from Norcem, in cooperation with the European Cement Research Academy (ECRA) marks the first time technology to capture CO2 is used at a cement production plant.

Aker Solutions will perform long-term testing on the actual flue gas to select optimum chemical solvent for high content CO2 flue gas at Norcem's plant in Brevik, Norway.

Tests will be performed with Aker Solutions' in-house developed Mobile Test Unit (MTU). The MTU is a fully fledged CO2 capture plant that includes all processes and functions you will find in a large scale commercial plant.

The project results will provide Norcem and its parent company HeidelbergCement, valuable information for future decision-making on reduction in CO2 emissions, and help the European cement industry understand the use of technology for future full-scale CO2 capture from cement production plants.

"The cement industry is a major emitter of CO2 and there is a potential to reduce emissions substantially," says Henning Østvig, Head of Front End & Technology in Aker Solutions. "We really look forward to working with Norcem, HeidelbergCement and ECRA in this important forward-looking project."

"HeidelbergCement and Norcem have already taken major steps in reducing the emissions of CO2 from the production of cement," says Per Brevik, director alternative fuels at HeidelbergCement Northern Europe. "The next important step is CO2-capture."

The cement industry aligns strategy and practical testing and project experience through ECRA, whose mission is to advance innovation in the cement industry within the context of sustainable development and to communicate the latest knowledge and research findings in cement and concrete technology.

ECRA members picked Norcem Brevik as the site for ECRA operational CO2-capture test project. The project is supported and partly financed by the CLIMIT programme, which is managed by Gassnova in cooperation with the Research Council of Norway.

Aker Solutions has developed CO2-technology solutions since the early 1990s. A separate company, Aker Clean Carbon, was established in 2007 as a company under Aker ASA to commercialise carbon capture technology. Aker Solutions took full ownership of Aker Clean Carbon in 2012 and carbon capture and storage activities are an integrated part of Aker Solutions.

Subsea operators, engineering procurement & construction contractors and suppliers need to take a more joined-up approach if hardware is to keep pace with the extreme demands of new projects, according to LB Bentley.

The small bore subsea valve company, acquired by Severn Glocon Group in 2012, says that better transparency and collaboration would enhance equipment reliability, bringing tangible safety and productivity benefits.

This is particularly true of challenging applications, such as those associated with high pressure high temperature (HPHT) wells in the Northern Seas and Gulf of Mexico.

LB Bentley is calling for niche hardware components, such as small bore valves, to be recognised as solutions rather than treated as short lead time commodities. Any equipment itemised on critical components lists, it adds, should be treated as an integral part of the subsea hardware jigsaw.

In particular, the firm says that all critical component suppliers should be involved in technical conversations at the outset of a project.

John Drew, engineering manager at LB Bentley, believes that getting engineers together in this way would also help identify technology gaps that exist at a wider industry level. Establishing a cohesive approach could lead to more well-informed, intelligence-led research and development across suppliers' businesses. In turn, this would empower creative engineering and facilitate development of breakthrough ideas to solve problems.

"Maximising recovery rates cost-effectively and safely is an ongoing challenge for subsea production," Drew explains. "As exploration heads into deeper waters and more extreme environments, this is thrown into sharp relief. That's why it is so important that all hardware suppliers are consulted during a project's FEED phase.

"A more collaborative stance could also help identify emerging technology gaps. This would ensure engineers are focused on the long-term needs of the industry as well as immediate concerns of individual projects. We need to work together to ensure that subsea hardware engineering continues to meet the evolving demands of the industry."

Thames Water is to employ a Biothelys thermal hydrolysis plant, from Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, at its Oxford sewage treatment works (STW). The unit is scheduled to be in operation by March 2014.

The Oxford plant will treat a throughput of 25,000 tonnes of dry solids per year. This will be composed of a mixture of primary and secondary sludges produced, both at the Oxford works itself together with those imported from outlying works.

The treated sludge produced by the thermal hydrolysis process will be fed to the downstream anaerobic digesters at a much higher dry solids concentration (typically 10 – 12%) compared with only 5-6% for untreated sludge.  This will, in effect, double the existing digester throughput.

The use of thermal hydrolysis at Oxford will also substantially increase the amount of biogas produced by the existing AD plant.  This biogas will then be used to generate “green” electricity via a combined heat and power (CHP) plant.

In addition, due to the higher destruction of volatile matter, there will be less sludge left at the end of the process for final disposal.

Veolia’s contract for the Biothelys thermal hydrolysis plant at Oxford was awarded by Kier Infrastructure and Overseas Ltd – main contractor for the overall scheme.

The scheme also comprises refurbishment of the existing anaerobic digestion plant and new sludge storage and handling facilities.

The contract award follows Yorkshire Water's recent adoption of the Biothelys technology at its Esholt STW.

Control valve specialist Severn Glocon has been awarded a contract to supply 536 engineered control valves for the processing plant on the Ichthys Project onshore LNG facilities.

Included in the contract are cryogenic valves of up to 42 inches bore, weighing around 20 tonnes, as well as valves with pressure ratings of up to 2,500 ANSI.

This is the largest and one of the most technically challenging contracts in the firm’s 50 year history. The valves will deal with volatile fluids at temperatures as low as -160°c, and they need to handle extreme requirements surrounding cryogenics, thermal dynamics and velocity control.

Severn Glocon’s technical specialists have developed bespoke designs for the valves, and they are being manufactured across the Group’s Gloucester and Chennai facilities.

Valves for some of the most demanding applications, such as compressor anti-surge and gas-to-flare control, will benefit from Severn Glocon’s customised multi-labyrinth trim. This enables precise control of fluid velocity, minimising stress placed on components to enhance performance and reliability, as well as extending valve life and lowering noise levels.

Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) activities for the project are being undertaken by the JKC Australia LNG Pty Ltd (JKC), a joint venture between JGC Corporation, KBR and Chiyoda Corporation. The project is now in the construction phase and the first valves are being shipped. Manufacture and supply of valves will continue into 2014.

“The scope, scale and harsh demands of this project command highly-engineered, technically advanced hardware,” says Roger Spiers, Commercial Manager at Severn Glocon. “Our brightest engineers have been focusing their efforts on developing breakthrough valve solutions. We have also invested in extended in-house cryogenic testing facilities to optimise delivery times.”  

The Ichthys LNG Project is a Joint Venture between INPEX group companies, major partner TOTAL group companies and the Australian subsidiaries of Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Chubu Electric Power and Toho Gas.

Arvia and the UK's National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) have been granted funding to deliver a collaborative project by the Technology Strategy Board, the UK's innovation agency, in an initiative that is supported by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. 

The project aim is to use Arvia technology to destroy oils and solvents which are contaminated with high levels of alpha radiation, currently located at the Sellafield site.

Over the last 12 months Arvia and NNL have been developing their relationship and planning how their distinct sets of capabilities could be brought together to deliver a project of real benefit to the nuclear industry.

Arvia and NNL will work together to test the proven Arvia process on wastes which have no current disposal route.  Key decision makers at Sellafield Ltd. have already shown interest in this project as they look to safely undertake decommissioning and nuclear waste management.

David Louden, Waste Strategy Manager at Sellafield Ltd. is keen to see the project outcome: "The NNL/Arvia proposal… is of strong interest to Sellafield Ltd. and I look forward to discussing the results."

Similarly, Debbie Keighley, Head of Technical Capability at Sellafield Ltd., expressed interest: "Plutonium contaminated oils and solvents are stored on the Sellafield site and are not currently treatable using conventional techniques. The Arvia process therefore offers significant potential benefits for our industry."

NNL estimate that upon successful completion of the project, implementation of the Arvia process could lead to multi-million pound savings for Sellafield Ltd. and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which owns the Sellafield site.

Barney Whyte, Business Leader Waste and Residue Processing at NNL, was similarly pleased at the collaboration: "this project will help pave the way to solving a wealth of waste problems here in the UK and further afield. Our goal is to assist in the development of solutions to some of the most pressing concerns for the nuclear industry and in undertaking this project we hope to move closer to solving this particular issue."

There are 230,000 tonnes of ILW waste in the UK alone, with around 5% being organic.  This challenge is not confined to the UK nuclear market; around the globe there are significant volumes of waste organics that have gone untreated due to inadequate or non-existent waste treatment options.

It is therefore expected that key waste liability owners, decision makers and influencers worldwide will keep a keen eye on this project as it develops, and as it proves a viable solution for the international nuclear waste management community.

Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd (HGNE) is to use of the UK's National Nuclear Laboratory's RadBall technology to help in the cleanup programme at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi site in Japan.

RadBall has been selected for potential use in mapping the radiation levels in parts of the Fukushima Daiichi reactors, and identifying the locations of the major contamination hot-spots.

The NNL technology is based on the use of a radiation-sensitive material to analyse the extent and location of radioactive contamination within confined spaces. Developed over the past several years, it is small and does not require any external power supply.

The potential application of RadBall to the Fukushima Daiichi cleanup effort was first highlighted during a visit and seminar - organised by UK Trade & Investment - for UK nuclear companies to visit Japan in October 2011, held at the British Embassy in Tokyo.

"The cleanup of the Fukushima Daiichi site is one of the major challenges facing the global nuclear industry at present," said NNL's managing director Paul Howarth.

"We are looking forward to working with HGNE and TEPCO to better understand the details of the site and to help them to evaluate the capabilities of RadBall," he added.

CHO-Power, part of the Europlasma Group, is using Emerson Process Management’s digital automation technology to control a new waste and biomass fed power station at Morcenx in southwestern France. By providing flexible and accurate control of an innovative gasification process, Emerson’s Ovation^™ expert control system is enabling the plant to operate at maximum efficiency.

The new Morcenx gasification facility will generate 12 MW of power from 150 metric tonnes per day of industrial and wood waste, making it the most powerful plant of its type worldwide. The efficient use of waste and biomass fuel helps the plant support European energy guidelines promoting the use of continuous-source renewable energy with low CO₂ emissions. Start-up was in autumn 2012, and the plant was commissioned to the grid at the beginning of 2013.

The Morcenx power station is the first of its type to use an innovative and highly efficient gasification principle based on patented 'Turboplasma' equipment to transform waste into syngas. The 1200°C temperatures generated from the plasma torch produce a very pure syngas that is used to drive the turbine and generate electricity.  In addition, 18 MWth of hot water from the cooling system is used to heat a vegetable greenhouse and a wood drier.

“We selected Emerson’s Ovation system because it provides the levels of flexibility and control needed to cope with the varying characteristics of biomass fuels,” said Yannick Ferriere, project manager, CHO Power. “Also critical was Emerson’s extensive project management experience with biomass power generating plants, as well as its technical support including engineering, configuration of the Ovation system, training, start-up assistance and maintenance.”

The Ovation system, together with AMS Suite predictive maintenance software and smart instrumentation, is part of Emerson’s PlantWeb^™ digital plant architecture that provides both advanced control and asset management capability for the Morcenx facility.

The Ovation system will perform data acquisition and monitor and control all major plant components to provide improved unit stability, responsiveness and thermal efficiencies; tighter overall control of plant operations; and a more concise view of key plant and turbine parameters. The system provides embedded advanced algorithms and proven control routines that continually adjust the combustion process to compensate for the varying characteristics of biomass fuels. This maximizes both boiler and plant efficiency. The Ovation system interfaces with the GE steam turbine, gas treatment system and gas engine using Profibus-DP communications. 

An Ovation SIS (safety instrumented system) provides SIL-3 protection for the boiler systems. Complying with the stringent international standard IEC 61511, Ovation SIS employs digital intelligence and diagnostics to provide an integrated complete-safety-loop approach that helps increase process availability, reduce lifecycle costs and ease regulatory compliance.

Emerson also provided a broad range of instrumentation for the power station, including Rosemount^® temperature, pressure and flow transmitters; Fisher^® control valves; and Rosemount Smart Wireless temperature transmitters. AMS Suite software will enable maintenance and operations personnel to predict equipment issues to better maintain and protect the machinery.

“We are delighted that Europlasma has chosen our automation technologies for this innovative power facility,” said Bob Yeager, president of the Power & Water Solutions business unit of Emerson Process Management. “Our technologies, services and support have made a significant contribution to this project, which will develop into a key part of Europe’s renewable generating capacity.”

A detailed market study by CHO Power shows that 650 new advanced gasification power plants will have to be built in Europe by 2030 to meet EU renewable energy targets. Of these 107 would be required in the UK and a further 126 in France.

Adams Foods Ltd recently engaged Lorien Engineering Solutions to relocate its packing lines from Wincanton in Somerset to Leek, Staffordshire.

The project involved transferring all blended cheese production lines to a new, purpose-built blended cheese and innovation centre at the firm’s Leek HQ.

Lorien is responsible for the building design and project management, including the construction of a new production facility for Adams Foods – owner of Pilgrim’s Choice, Kerrygold and MU brands.

“A fixed cost for this project was essential for the board approval," said Lorien’s Phil Colquhoun. "Lorien has worked hard with local suppliers of many disciplines to assemble this project within the budget assigned.” 

Adams Foods was launched on 4 October 2010 following the merger between The Kerrygold Company and North Downs Dairy.

Part of the Irish Dairy Board Group (IDB), the company provides  a range of hard cheese and butter products to the retail, wholesale and food service sectors.

Noble Corp. has won a $655m drilling contract with Statoil for a new-build jackup for use in the UK sector of the North Sea. The initial contract is for four years and is anticipated to commence during the third quarter of 2016.

The ultra-high specification jackup is an enhanced version of  Statoil's "Cat J" specifications and will be designed to operate in water depths of up to 150 meters in harsh environment conditions, with a maximum total drilling depth capacity of 10,000 meters.

The award was made by Statoil as the operator of the Mariner project, which is located on the East Shetland Platform, about 150km east of the Shetland Isles, said ZUG, Switzerlandd-based Noble.

Statoil's partners in the Mariner project are JX Nippon Exploration and Production (U.K.) Ltd and Cairn Energy PLC. The rig will be equipped for operations in harsh environments and capable of deploying either a surface or subsea blowout preventer when drilling wells in these challenging environments.

Noble is in the final stages of negotiating a contract for the construction of the new jackup and expects delivered costs to be approximately $690 million, including project management, spares and start-up costs, but excluding capitalized interest.

"We believe that the fundamentals of the high-specification jackup market segment will continue to be strong in the decade ahead," said David W. Williams, chairman, president and CEO of Noble.

"This unit is designed to meet some of the industry's most stringent operating requirements and supports Noble's ongoing commitment to increasing the technological and operational capabilities of our fleet."

The rig will be based on the Gusto MSC CJ-70-150 design, with enhancements that include a number of features that are designed to further improve the rig's operating capability.

The rig was designed for operations over a very large platform or in a subsea configuration in water depths of up to 150 meters in the Norwegian sector.