WABAG is pleased to announce the conclusion of another prestigious project in Algeria. Baraki, which has a capacity of 900,000pe, is Algiers’ main wastewater treatment plant and the second largest facility of its type in the country.
The ambitious contract allocated to WABAG involved the revitalisation of the entire existing plant at an investment cost of about €50 million.
Complete renewal of the wastewater and sludge treatment systems and pumping stations
The entire large-scale wastewater treatment complex required comprehensive refurbishing. The mechanical equipment in the wastewater pumping stations, the mechanical/biological wastewater treatment and the sludge treatment line, including the gas system, were virtually fully replaced.
The scope of services and deliveries included a status survey and analysis, engineering, repair of the existing structures, disassembly, supply of equipment, assembly and start-up, as well as several years of operational management.
At the beginning of March the work was concluded and start-up and pilot operations successfully completed, which allowed the start of the second phase of the DBO contract involving operational management.
State-of-the-art technology for the large-scale wastewater treatment plant
The plant handles a volume of 150,000m³ of municipal wastewater daily using the proven mechanical/biological process with integrated sludge treatment.
The process chain incorporates mechanical pre-treatment, an activated sludge step with a volume of 36,000m³ and four secondary clarifiers. To achieve the stabilisation of the sewage sludge, anaerobic digestion was selected.
The two-stage stabilisation in three bioreactors with a volume of 12,000m³ facilitates the generation of energy from biogas, improved dewatering characteristics and a reduced volume of sludge requiring disposal.
A prestige project in many regards
The finalisation of this complex project represents a major success and a further milestone in WABAG’s Maghreb business. Dr Walter Anwander, who is responsible for project management in Algeria, said: “The Baraki plant constituted a challenge even for a company with WABAG’s extensive experience. Therefore we are all the more pleased that, in spite of a number of obstacles, we have brought the plant up to the highest technical level and, due to the quality of the new systems, can guarantee sustainable wastewater treatment.”
For WABAG, Baraki represents an exemplary plant from a number of viewpoints. The company has again been able to demonstrate its competence in the field of plant modernisation, while with its anaerobic sludge treatment line, the large-scale plant for almost one million inhabitants constitutes an advanced plant design for the region.
In addition, the facility also represents a further order for the operational management business area within the scope of a DBO model. WABAG has been active in the Algeria for over 20 years. In the past decade alone the company has completed 15 municipal plants for wastewater and drinking water treatment for the supply of more than seven million of the country’s inhabitants.
