Chemical Engineering students in their final year attended a visit to Severn Trent to gain hands-on industry experience in large-scale industrial sewage and water treatment processes.

We caught up with Agyapomaa, an MEng Chemical Engineering student who attended the trip:

“Being at Severn Trent meant I was able to ask industry professionals questions in real-time and it was great to see something we had learnt being applied in industry.

We’re currently learning about waste disposal techniques and treatment systems in our Environmental Protection and Pollution Control module and it’s great to see this in action.

I was especially interested in learning how sludge treatment can be used to create biogas for energy generation and electricity recovery.”

Dr Mark Leaper, Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, commented that this trip is “one of several for our undergraduate students” where they get the opportunity to gain industry experience and put their knowledge into practice.

Reader in Porous Media, Dr Diganta Das, who helps organise this annual trip comments:

“We want to provide an opportunity for the students to see and hear how chemical engineering principles are employed for designing and operating sewage and water treatment facilities like Wanlip.

Students can see first-hand how theories that we teach in classes such as activated sludge processes and anaerobic digesters are operated in real life.

We have a strong relationship with Severn Trent, they provide regular support for our students from offering industrial trips to working with them on their research projects.”