Enlarge?
Click on the photo.
As early as 2013, it was stipulated in the coalition agreement of the federal government that agriculture must refrain from using sewage sludge when fertilizing, because it contains valuable plant nutrients such as phosphorus, but also pollutants that are harmful to the environment and health. However, phosphorus is a valuable fertilizer that has so far had to be imported entirely from a few supplier countries. In order to ensure the supply here, the phosphorus recovery strategy of the state environment ministry recommends using so-called secondary raw material sources. The largest secondary raw material source for phosphorus is sewage sludge. The state of Baden-Württemberg and the EU therefore also specifically promote innovative approaches to sewage sludge recycling and phosphorus recovery within the framework of the ERDF program “Innovation and Energy Transition”.
At the handover, Ministerialdirigent Helmfried Meinel, head of the State Environment Ministry, once again emphasized the great importance of the waste water association’s project in the areas of energy transition and recycling management: “In order to ensure that sewage sludge disposal is sustainable over the long term, the disposal concepts in many regions must be realigned. Alternatives to co-incineration in coal-fired power and cement plants must be found. And we need innovative and efficient technologies to recover phosphorus from sewage sludge or sewage sludge ash. With the concept that is now being pursued, the Staufener Bucht wastewater association is setting the right course for sustainable sewage sludge disposal and phosphorus recovery.
The pilot project:
With a modified fluidized bed incineration plant, the Staufener Buch waste water association wants to separate heavy metals from the phosphorus-containing ash at the previous sewage treatment plant site in Grezhausen (district Breisach) and make them more available to plants than has been the case with conventional sewage sludge incineration plants. The heat generated in the process should also be used to generate electricity that is sufficient to operate the recycling plant and also provides a small surplus that almost neutralizes the energy balance of the entire sewage treatment plant.
The plant is also intended to reduce the number of journeys required to dispose of the sewage sludge. After all, around 150,000 km of truck journeys, mainly to coal-fired power plants in North Rhine-Westphalia, were required to dispose of the total of 11,300 t of sewage sludge per year.
Another advantage of the system compared to the other systems in operation and in the planning stage – mostly 10 to 20 times larger – are the system’s low emissions. According to calculations that have already been carried out, these are “irrelevant” for the environment. In terms of its installed heat output, the system is comparable to a sports car.
For the chairman of the association, Volker Kieber, the project is a shining light in intermunicipal cooperation, from which many benefit. Not only because it ensures sustainable sewage sludge recycling for the sewage treatment plants involved, but also because the costs for this have a stabilizing effect on the wastewater charges, not least because of the funding from the EU and the state.
The technically demanding project should be accompanied scientifically. “It can be assumed that the national and international experts will be interested in the results of the pilot plant, which is to go into operation as early as 2022”, says the managing director of the AZV Staufener Bucht, Michael Hacker. He is also certain that the results are very likely to have an impact on European and national fertilizer legislation.
Staufen Bay Wastewater Association (AZV):
The AZV Staufener Bucht operates a sewage treatment plant at the Breisach-Grezhausen location to purify the municipal wastewater of the member communities:
Bad Krozingen, Bollschweil, Breisach, Ehrenkirchen, Eschbach, Freiburg (OT Munzingen), Gewerbepark Breisgau, Hartheim, Heitersheim (OT Gallenweiler), Merdingen, Münstertal, Schallstadt (OT Mengen), Sölden, Stauden, Wittnau.
The largest member is Bad Krozingen with an almost 40% share. Bad Krozingen also provides the association chairman, Mayor Volker Kieber. His deputies are Mayor Oliver Rein (City of Breisach) and Mayor Michael Benitz (City of Staufen).
The AZV is also part of the sewage sludge recycling community Neuenburg – Breisach, which consists of the following partners (south to north):
– Bad Bellingen municipality, sewage treatment plant (KA) Bad Bellingen, 15,000 inhabitants
– AZV Hohlebachtal, KA Steinenstadt, 16300 EW
– AZV Weilertal, KA Neuenburg, 62500 EW
– AV Sulzbach, KA Grißheim, 40000 EW
– AZV Staufener Bucht, KA Breisach Grezhausen, 114,000 inhabitants
– City of Breisach, KA Breisach, 81,000 inhabitants
– City of Vogtsburg, KA Burkheim, pop. 18,000.
(Press information: City of Bad Krozingen, 25.09.2020)
More articles from Medienservice (01)
Every author of a report (company, club, person …) also has HIS own “extra newspaper” at REGIOTRENDS! At the top, click on the red name behind “More posts by”. You will already see ALL of his retrievable messages in our brand new internet newspaper.
–
