IWAMA perspectives for sludge management

Abstract

The technologies of sludge treatment and trends of final sludge usage as a fertilizer, disposal or incineration differ in the countries of Baltic Sea region. Various definitions of applicable sludge quality and historical trends in the choice of sludge treatment technologies leads to enormous variations in sludge management practices. The EU Baltic Sea Region project IWAMA aims to enlighten the relationship of technological and economic feasibility of sludge management practices.

The project has two major action focuses. Firstly, comparative benchmarking of sludge management in a wider selection of WWTP-s and thorough auditing of selected plants addresses the sludge management in a dual approach will be performed. Sludge quality is measured and assessed during the sludge audits considering technological and regional peculiarities.

Secondly, the pilot investments are planned to study a selection of knowledge gaps in the novel sludge treatment approaches and facilitate the conceptual understanding and applicability of these technologies. Piloting of the sludge management technology addresses also the issue of nutrient discharge in large WWTPs via introducing an advanced sludge water treatment process.

The presentation gives an overview about the actions and studies planned for the sludge management in the frame of IWAMA project.