Product Stories

The £43 million upgrade of Yorkshire Water's Knostrop wastewater treatment plant in Leeds is already benefiting from the latest high-performance Flender FZG gearboxes from Siemens Industry (Automation & Drive Technologies).

The gearboxes feature within screw pumps from specialist in Archimedean screw pumps, Spaans Babcock. The previous Flender gearboxes at the plant had been in operation for many years (the plant has been operating for 36 years) and the seven replacement units were supplied in addition to a new screw pump to supplement existing capacity at the plant.

The new Flender units, which were all from the flagship FZG range, were installed in low-level and high-level screw pumps in a phased installation, with four FZGs (size B3SH15, 45 ratio) at low level and three at high level in varying sizes (B3SH11, B3SH14 and B3SH15 with nominal ratios of 35.5, 40 and 71). All output shafts had a clockwise rotation, and the gear units were fitted with Flender Rupex couplings as well as axial fans. There was also an additional Flender FZG gearbox at high level on a new compact screw pump supplied direct from Holland.

The plant deals with flows from the domestic and industrial areas of Leeds before discharging them into the River Aire. New activated sludge treatment tanks and settlement tanks have been built to improve the plant's efficiency as well as improving the quality of the final effluent. 

Spaans contracts manager Chris Hindle commented that Flender units had again been selected due to the consistent reliability and excellent service of the previous Flender units at the site, plus the new units' improved performance features including better energy efficiency.  

Knostrop is Yorkshire Water's largest wastewater treatment works, treating waste generated by the equivalent population of around one million.