Proposed EU legislation to force changes in sewage sludge disposal: A case study

• DOI: 10.1007/s11705-018-1773-0
• Publication Date: 2019-01-02T09:52:26Z
• Authors: Vojtěch Turek; Bohuslav Kilkovský; Zdeněk Jegla; Petr Stehlík
• Keywords: 13. Climate action; 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; 02 engineering and technology; 7. Clean energy; 6. Clean water; 12. Responsible consumption

The consequences of changes planned in the European Union legislation relevant to the disposal of sewage sludges are discussed. A specific municipal waste water treatment plant is analyzed in terms of drying and subsequent combustion or pyrolysis of the produced stabilized sludge, and the respective net energy balances are carried out. A simplified economic analysis of the two disposal options is presented, which suggest that combustion of the sludge would be economically infeasible while pyrolysis of the sludge in a modular, self-sufficient container unit can bring a small financial benefit due to the selling of the produced phosphorus-rich biochar.