An innovative fecal sludge treatment plant and biofuel production factory

Naivasha Treatment Plant (NTPx)

Up to 90% of urban populations in developing country cities use on-site sanitation, but utilities have little incentive to safely collect, treat, and dispose of waste in pit latrines and septic tanks. Why? The cost to provide these services typically far outweighs the willingness or ability for residents to pay. Sanivation, a social enterprise based in Kenya, has demonstrated with their current waste to value treatment plant (in Naivasha, Kenya) that sanitation can be a profitable business. Now they aim to scale that solution to provide city-wide, safely-managed sanitation.

Stantec was contracted by Sanivation to provide engineering and advisory services for the design of the Naivasha Treatment Plant (NTPx). The facility will treat 200 cubic metres (7,060 cubic feet) of septage per day to a Grade A biosolids level, which will then be mixed with sawdust to create 1,200 tonnes of biomass briquettes per month. By selling these briquettes to local industries, Sanivation will be able to deliver financially viable sanitation services.

Over the course of the project, our team worked closely with Sanivation to integrate engineering design criteria and the operational requirements of the treatment plant into the overall business model. Our engineers—based in North America and Europe—collaborated closely with local engineers in Kenya as well as global equipment suppliers, demonstrating how integrating international best practices and local knowledge can be leveraged to develop a successful project outcome.