Thames Water is driving innovation with a £7 million OFWAT-funded Water Breakthrough Challenge project: “Transforming the Energy Balance of Wastewater Treatment”. Our research explores a game-changing approach using an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor for COD removal, paired with an ELIQUO ELOVAC® degassing system to extract biogas. The pilot plant went live in October 2025, delivering valuable insights before a temporary shutdown in December due to incorrect wiring, however we are gearing up to re-seed the reactor by late-March/early-April 2026. At the conference, we’ll share detailed operational results including process performance, and biogas yields, as well as key lesson learnt for the water sector. We’ll also showcase how our planned demonstration scale plant further transforms the energy balance of wastewater treatment to develop a mainstream solution for existing wastewater systems.