Three DSD innovative projects won the Champion and Merits in The Innovation Award for Engineering Industry

The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) announced the results of The Innovation Award for Engineering Industry 2012/13 at the press conference held on 12 April 2013.  Three innovative projects of the Drainage Services Department: “Environmental Sludge Treatment Process Developed on Co-settling Technology", “Lai Chi Kok Drainage Tunnel” and “Happy Valley Underground Stormwater Storage Scheme” won the Champion of the Technology Category and two Merit Awards of the Construction Category respectively.  For details of the results on The Innovation Award for Engineering Industry 2012/13, you may visit the following site:

http://www.hkie.org.hk/engineeringweek/awardforengineeringindustry/press.html

Champion : Environmental Sludge Treatment Process Developed on Co-settling Technology

The Drainage Service Department streamlined the sludge treatment process with the application of “Co-settling Method” which brought an annual saving in electricity of 4.4 million kWh, reduced carbon dioxide emission by 3,000 tonnes and solid waste by 700 tonnes.  The “Co-settling Method” developed by the Drainage Services Department is to provide a shortcut for portion of the surplus activated sludge (mainly micro-organisms) after secondary biological treatment to recycle to the primary tank.  In this way, the sedimentation, biological treatment and sludge thickening processes could be carried out simultaneously and the time and energy consumed in sludge treatment could be saved.  This new method also helped improve the sludge digestion efficiency which boosted up biogas (marsh gas) production and increased energy saving recovered from renewable energy by 2.2 million kWh, achieving double environmental benefits.

For details of the Co-settling Technology, please refer to the following video: 
Environmental Sludge Treatment Process Developed on Co-settling Technology (Cantonese version only)

Merit : Lai Chi Kok Drainage Tunnel

The Lai Chi Kok Drainage Tunnel is a major flood protection project in West Kowloon.  Through intercepting the runoff from the rural hinterland, the works greatly enhances the capability of the downstream coastal urban areas of Lai Chi Kok, Cheung Sha Wan and Sham Shui Po in coping with severe rainstorms.  In order to route the tunnel through the closely packed urban underground without impacting on the numerous infrastructure in close vicinity, in particular 5 railways and expressway foundations , the project team devised an innovative and cost-effective scheme, bringing in unprecedentedly high, up to 4.2 bar, hyperbaric pressure technologies.  The project achieved the challenging goal of zero decompression sickness, and set new directions in hyperbaric tunnelling for Hong Kong.  Another innovation is the use of a single specially-designed Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) to successfully complete two tunnel segments through markedly different geologists, one being fresh granite and the other mixed ground and soil.  This sustainable design eliminates the need for a second TBM, which construction would have required 650 tonnes of steel with significant energy input, and over $1 million additional project expenses.

For details of the project, please refer to the following websites:
www.dsd.gov.hk/others/LCKDT

Merit : Happy Valley Underground Stormwater Storage Scheme

Provision of intercepting stormwater runoff at upstream, underground stormwater storage tank at mid-stream and improvement to existing drainage system at downstream of the catchment are three approaches to alleviate flooding problem in Hong Kong.  The Happy Valley Underground Stormwater Storage Tank is located at the Happy Valley Recreation Ground with the storage capacity of 60,000m3, which is equivalent to the total volume of 24 standard size swimming pools.  Being the third stormwater underground storage tank in Hong Kong, this project is also the first engineering application of a movable crest weir system together with Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) real-time monitoring of water and tidal levels.  To better achieve the performance of flooding prevention, the height of the movable crest weir will be adjusted according to the data from water level sensors as to allow stormwater entering the storage tank and to limit the drainage runoff onto the downstream.  In addition, the stormwater storage tank adopts shallow tank design and lowering of movable crest weir after a stormwater event, which facilitates gravity draining of more than two-thirds of the stormwater stored. Compared to the traditional design approach in which all stormwater stored is drained off by pumping, the new design approach can significantly reduce electricity consumption.

For details of the project, please refer to the following websites:
www.dsd.gov.hk/others/HVUSSS

President of HKIE - Ir Prof CHOY Kin-kuen (right) and Chairman of Engineering Week 2013 Organising Committee – Ir CHAN Chi Chiu (left) announced the results of The Innovation Award for Engineering Industry 2012/13

Group photo of the Assistant Director(Electrical & Mechanical) - Mr. SHE Siu Kuen (third from right), Chief Engineer(Sewage Treatment) - Mr. CHAN Cheng Ping (third from left) of the Drainage Services Department and the project team of the “Environmental Sludge Treatment Process Developed on Co-settling Technology" with the President of HKIE - Ir Prof CHOY Kin-kuen (fourth from left) at the press conference

 

Mr. LUK Wai Hung(right), Chief Engineer(Drainage Projects) of the Drainage Services Department, introduced the Happy Valley Underground Stormwater Storage Scheme to the media

 

Mr KAN Hon Shing(middle), Senior Engineer (Project Management) of Drainage Services Department, introduced the Lai Chi Kok Drainage Tunnel project to the media

For the details of the news reports on the briefing, please refer to the following hyperlinks:

Hong Kong Commercial Newspapers
http://www.hkcd.com.hk/content/2013-04/13/content_3180372.htm