A critical upgrade for Birmingham's Waste-to-Energy heartbeat

Among those emissions are trace dioxins, linked to serious health risks. That makes the atomisers not just vital equipment but the protective barrier that keeps the site safe, compliant and running. If one goes down, the entire plant must stop, costing up to £150,000 per day.

So when the original drive system approached obsolescence, the operator turned once again to ERIKS – two decades after we first designed it – to future-proof a facility where reliability isn’t optional.

A Relationship Built on Trust- and Time

ERIKS’ relationship with the Tyseley facility spans more than 20 years, during which the original atomiser system ran with unwavering reliability.

When Old Becomes Risky

Despite their long and reliable service, the original atomiser drives had reached the point where maintenance was becoming a delicate balancing act. Replacement parts were increasingly impossible to source. Mechanical chokes were running hotter than they should. Interlocks – vital for operator safety – no longer offered the certainty required of a modern system. And redundancy across the setup was limited.

Any one of these issues could have triggered a shutdown. Together, they represented a growing operational and financial risk that demanded a robust, engineered response.
 

Engineering a Modern, Resilient Solution

Working in collaboration with the manufacturer of the atomiser units, ERIKS developed a complete modernisation package engineered for reliability, safety, and longevity.

Equally important was the optimisation of choke design. The improved configuration eased electrical and mechanical stress on the motors, extending bearing life, lowering maintenance requirements, and delivering measurable energy savings thanks to reduced current draw - from 96A down to around 75A.

Upgrade Under Pressure

The plant’s annual summer outage lasts just a month, so every hour counts. ERIKS took on the challenge with a full turnkey delivery: installation, certification, testing, commissioning, and all supporting documentation. Pre-commissioning and autotuning were carried out ahead of schedule, giving the control room a seamless restart.

Despite the pressure, the team delivered the entire upgrade in just ten working days, returning the plant to service modernised, stable, and fully compliant.
 

A System Reborn

The benefits of the new system were immediate. Zero-speed interlocks and improved emergency stops elevated operator safety. Redundancy and modern controls boosted uptime. Maintenance needs fell sharply. Energy efficiency improved significantly thanks to lower current draw.

And with improved telemetry and advanced diagnostics available at the control room, the operator now enjoys full visibility of atomiser performance – supporting faster decisions, early intervention, and smarter maintenance planning.

For the operator, ERIKS brings more than engineering skill. Decades of site knowledge and a long-standing, problem-solving partnership have kept the atomisers, and the wider facility, running at peak performance.

Today, the upgraded drives underpin the safe and efficient running of Birmingham’s waste-to-energy plant – showing how long-term collaboration and technical expertise can help power homes and protect the environment, day after day.

For more information on Power Transmission or if you’d like to find out how you could benefit from the same standardisation, contact your local ERIKS Service Centre, who will be happy to discuss your options.
 

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