Efficient municipal wastewater treatment, such as the systems currently in place in most European municipalities, produces vast amounts of sewage sludge. The latest data collected show a yearly production of 9.637 thousands of tons in the EU28 countries. The most common disposal methods for sludge are spreading on agricultural soil, composting, incineration and anaerobic digestion. Spreading on soil entails on average the lowest cost (15 €/ton), but it is not an available option in all EU28 countries, due to different legislations in force, and that the more and more regions are banning this use due to safety concerns. Incineration entails the highest costs (50-130 € /ton), but is also considered the safest disposal method and is fast growing and widely adopted. However, it presents also technical difficulties, such as the low overall efficiency of the process (sludge can contain up to 85% water, which renders the process very inefficient), the huge logistic efforts required to transport the sludge to the incineration plants, or the disposal of the ashes after the sludge has been incinerated.
In this situation, Ingelia has the objective to demonstrate and commercialize their proprietary technology for hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) to the conditions of sewage sludge (HTSew), showing clearly technical and economic advantages against the current sludge treatment methods. Ingelia aims to reduce the treatment costs for the sludge, providing an innovative technology, which is at the same time beneficial for the environment. The HTSew process turns the sewage sludge disposal from a costly and environmental unfriendly process into an income-generating activity, by reducing the treatment costs and enhancing locally the industrial sector
During phase 1 of SME-Instrument, Ingelia has already carried out tests at industrial scale (5 tons) with their in-house prototype which have shown that sewage sludge is a technically viable feedstock for HTC, and that the treatment and reuse price using HTC would be at 50 €/ton, almost a 50% reduction from the most moderate of the currently available incineration options. Based on the results of the test runs technical optimizations have been developed for HTC mono-systems for sewage sludge. Other objectives on phase 1 were to make a feasibility study that assesses in depth the existing sludge disposal markets identifying and characterizing the regions where the current market for sludge disposal is ready for the uptake of HTC, by (i) the identification of the most promising regions at the NUTS-2 or NUTS-3 level with regard to sludge production and current disposal methods; (ii) the identification of potential local distributors or commercial agents and setup of a commercialization network; (iii) the identification of the possible HTC products and commercialization strategies adapted to each region and product; (iv) the construction of a database of potential customers, end-users and competitors. Phase 1 permitted to Ingelia to construct the business plan based on HTSew, as well as to prepare the deployment strategy for achieving it.
The requested funding (Phase 2 of SME-Instrument) would be needed to implement and construct a demonstration plant for sludge treatment (15 tons/day) and run demonstration tests for interested clients in key markets, and deploy the business.
