Sharjah Sewage Treatment Plant Phase 4 and 5 - Sharjah, UAE

Introduction

In line with the progressive UAE Centennial 2071 vision and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, “The sustainable environment and infrastructure” goal has been marked as a key priority for the UAE and the Emirate of Sharjah.

The AED 210 million Sharjah Sewage Treatment Plant upgrade project for Phase 4 and 5, awarded to MetiPro, is one of the many iconic projects the Sharjah Directorate of Public Works (DPW) has developed. The objective of the project is to increase the capacity of the existing plants from 27,400 m³/day to 65,000 m³/day per phase, reaching a total capacity of 130,000 m³/day. This is to accommodate the increased inflow and the growing demand for urban spaces in the second largest Emirate in terms of population.

MetiPro placed a strong emphasis on creating a transparent decision-making process, so each stage of the project was reviewed collaboratively with the client and agreed upon prior to the design stage. This helped to develop a highly energy-efficient treatment method and optimum performance measures to meet project delivery and system design characteristics.

Through implementing a non-traditional case study approach for the retrofitting project, MetiPro avoided potential interruptions to the ongoing operations of the plant.

MetiPro’s scope of work included the design, supply, retrofit, assessment, and repair of existing structures, as well as the construction of new structures. MetiPro was also responsible for the installation of equipment, the refurbishment of some existing facilities, testing and commissioning.

As part of the project, various existing facilities, including aeration tanks, raw sewage inlet area, gravity sand filter building and the sludge facilities building, were all upgraded. Additional new facilities, such as blower buildings, one new filter building, and new clarifiers (lamella tube clarifiers), were then built to double the capacity of the STP with minimum construction and maximum production.

The project achieved over 1.9 million man-hours without a single injury or time lost during the construction of the plant. This is an outcome of regular health, safety, and environment (HSE) trainings to ensure maximum safety at the construction site. All project works had risk analysis and proper documentation managed by relevant departments to avoid risk and reworks.

Innovation

The pre-treatment technology used in this project was meticulously designed keeping in mind the limited area available for an expansion. Through a compact design, MetiPro optimized the use of space reducing it by 50% without compromising the ultimate capacity.

Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) technology was implemented to enhance the treatment capacity without altering the volume of the biological tanks. The process design led to the complete removal of nitrogen and met the stringent discharge requirements.

MetiPro conceptualized, developed, and implemented the first-of-its-kind technology for the secondary treatment in this project, featuring an upgraded raw sewage inlet area, enhanced gravity sand filter building, and Lamella-type clarifiers with integrated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling. This helped increase the treatment capacity while reducing the area required for the upgrade by 20% and drastically improved the quality of the sewage effluent, making it more environmentally friendly.

In addition, a range of automation technologies were implemented to streamline and centralize operations while providing an integrated, real-time overview of process flow and equipment status, and timely plant diagnostics. The existing systems and capacities were enhanced by installing new technologies to optimize operations resulting in better situational awareness and efficient decision making.

Sustainability

The project upgrade increased the efficiency of the treatment plants Phase 4 and 5 and contributed towards achieving the Government of Sharjah’s water agenda for the sustainable development of projects and facilities across the Emirate. The project supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) No. 11, sustainable cities, and No. 6, clean water and sanitation.

The project’s mechanical design features high-efficiency blowers to reduce energy consumption and the technology used at the sludge intake facilities took into consideration the existing build to reduce carbon footprint and achieve higher efficiency.

To reduce the use of plastic water bottles at the Sharjah STP site, nearly 300 BPA-free, durable, and insulated metal water bottles were distributed to all staff at the project site. This initiative enabled MetiPro to avoid using 18,900 plastic water bottles on-site in a month, thus reducing the total carbon footprint of the project by 22 tons over the span of the project construction.