New Sewage Recovery Method Could Make Wastewater Treatment Energy Neutral
By Peak Johnson
As harmful as some bacteria can be to humans, it can be a help, too. There is now research that shows the energy in sewage can be collected by hungry bacteria.
Though sewage can be harmful to the environment, it also contains energy that can be useful. Recently, researchers from Ghent University have figured out how to take energy from the wastewater. Using the “contact-stabilization process, up to 55 percent of the organic matter could be recovered from sewage.”
This is a huge step forward, the university reports, since “the existing processes cannot recover more than 20 to 30 percent.” The researchers from Ghent preconceived that this amount can provide a manageable amount of energy to treat the sewage without the need for external electricity.
"This is an important step in the direction of wastewater treatment that is energy neutral, or even produces energy," Professor Siegfried Vlaeminck noted.
Similarly, this past August a wastewater treatment plant in Montague, MA, found a way to use bacteria in a rather unique fashion. The plant utilizes bacteria to feed on sewage and residue sludge, an idea that originated from plant operator John Little about six years ago while on a trip to Germany, according to The Recorder.
The system saves the plant about $350,000 on sludge byproduct shipping and incineration fees. It has been so successful that 26 wastewater plants in the county have been sending their sludge to Montague for processing.
According to Ghent University, industrial partners have already shown interest in the contact-stabilization process.
"Within my PhD, I could work with DC Water, which is responsible for the purification of the U.S. capital city,” Francis Meerburg, one of the researchers, said. “Our approach is unique because we have developed a high-rate variation of the so-called contact-stabilization process."
For similar stories visit Water Online’s Sludge And Biosolids Processing Solutions Center.