Harry James Laing

Email: h.j.laing@ncl.ac.uk

Supervisors

• School of Engineering
• Dr Mark Willis
• Dr Chris O’Malley
• Northumbrian Water
• Anthony Browne

Project description

At its Howdon site on Tyneside, Northumbrian Water (NW):

• anaerobically digests up to 40,000 tonnes of sewage sludge (dry solids)
• processes up to 12,000 L/s of raw sewage

NW has over 400 wastewater treatment works. The sludge arising from them is processed at Howdon or at the similar plant on Teesside. Howdon is critical to the company’s wastewater operations.

This work will develop operational strategies such as process control and/or optimisation. These strategies will improve process understanding, operation and site robustness.
The project will deliver a technological solution to the operation and control of a wastewater treatment site. It will focus on the operational challenges at the Howdon site.

This area has not been considered in previously funded/collaborative work between Newcastle University and Northumbrian Water.

Interests

• Academic: water and wastewater treatment, brewing, process control
• Personal: brewing, skiing, advanced driving, ballroom dancing

Qualifications

MEng Chemical Engineering with Honours in Process Control (1:1)