Amount awarded: £1,262,367
Led by: Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water
Partners: Anglian Water, Affinity Water, Industrie DeNora, Panton McLeod, Severn Trent Water, Swansea University, Uisce Éireann, United Utilities
Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) is used to remove organics, such as pesticides and taste and odour compounds. GAC needs to be regenerated thermally, typically every 3 years, which is both costly and carbon intensive. This project will investigate different ways to regenerate GAC locally reducing both financial and carbon costs.
“This funding will enable Welsh Water to lead this innovative project, exploring transformative ways of regenerating granular activated carbon locally rather than the traditional thermal regeneration route, which is both costly and carbon intensive.” – Paul Gaskin, Innovation, Optimisation and Compliance Manager, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water
The four-year project started in January 2025. The main aim of the project is to look at different techniques to regenerate Granular Activated Carbon locally rather than sending the GAC away for thermal regeneration. We are currently in Phase 2 of the project where Swansea University are assessing various chemical regeneration techniques at laboratory scale to inform our further trials. Regeneration techniques include ozonation and use of Panton McLeod proprietary chemical product PM77. Focus has been on the efficacy of the methods to remove PFAS, and algal compounds (MIB and Geosmin) without destruction of the GAC surface. This assessment is crucial to us understanding which techniques are likely to work before proceeding to our pilot scale trials. We have recently embarked on the design of the pilot plants that will be situated in Severn Trent Water and Welsh Water from January 2026, with two initial design meetings held. Members of the steering group visited Severn Trent Water’s existing pilot plants at Church Wilne to gain a better understanding of the requirements and potential size and layout of the pilot plants required for the Local Regeneration of Granular Activated Carbon project.
