The pilot study within the project, drying and pyrolysis of sewage sludge from various wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), will be carried out at the Ellinge WWTP in Eslöv, Sweden. A competence team consisting of universities, research institutes and companies is connected to the testbed. The test bed is part-financed by the Swedish Innovation Agency, Vinnova. VA SYD is the coordinator for the project. Four other Swedish municipal water and wastewater utilities are also project partners.

The project is expected to result in that a relatively unexplored alternative for handling sewage sludge and recycling of plant nutrients is being highlighted and explored so that utilities can invest in the technology without having to do their own pilot studies. In addition to effects at the system level regarding the infrastructure for sludge management, new non-toxic fertilisers adapted to current and future agriculture can reduce imports of mineral fertilisers and make Sweden more self-sustaining of resources required for a sustainable and self-sufficient food production.

Municipal wastewater treatment generates sludge, which contains almost all the phosphorus found in the sewage as well as a large part of the organic material. A ban on sludge spreading on farmland is being discussed in Sweden, but regardless of a ban or not, municipal wastewater works recognise a need for complements/alternatives to today’s sludge management.

Link to Testbed Ellinge