Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HTCycle (Sewage sludge reuse Phosphate recovery with an innovative HTC technology (HTCycle))
Reporting period: 2015-07-01 to 2015-12-31
In order to fulfil the objectives extensive research was done and the following tasks were carry out.
- Identification and characterisation of the supply side and main target countries for the AVA-CO2 HTC process
- Identification and specification of potential customer profiles
- Creation of potential client groups with different sludge suppliers/producers
- Developing of a market-study with summarising the currently supply and demand
- Establishing local distributions and set up partnerships in the detected main target countries
- Internal planning for the producing capacity (knowledge, employments, etc.)
- definition and implementation of the legal acceptance and safety regulations
- Definition of the requirements for the AVA-CO2 HTC plant for the commercialisation (CE- and
DIN EN-certification, machinery directive, etc.)
- Developing of a business plan to determine the costs and revenue of the AVA-CO2 HTC system
Production levels of sewage sludge differ considerably between different European countries, depending on the population, the percentage of households connected to the sewer system and the treatment methods used at WWTPs. Per capita production also differs, with the mean value in the EU at ~55 g/(P.E. × d) . The total sludge production from urban WWTPs in selected European countries has been identified and described.
The main sewage sludge producing countries – and hence large potential markets for application of HTC – include Germany, Switzerland, the UK and Scandinavian countries. Depending on the legal framework for sludge disposal in these countries and the market shares of competing technologies, the potential for widespread market uptake of HTC has been determined. Not only do the generated amounts of sludge produced differ largely among Member States, but the disposal methods applied show a large variety across countries. The treatment and disposal methods chosen in each country may depend on economic, political or legal, environmental and/ or logistic (e.g. agricultural land availabilities nearby) factors, but often also on the lack of suitable technologies and an underdeveloped market for more efficient and sustainable disposal methods.
By 2020, sewage sludge reuse in agriculture and sewage sludge incineration are expected to be the dominant practices in EU-27 . The report provides a short overview of advantages and disadvantages of both disposal methods: agricultural utilization vs. incineration (co- and mono-inicneration).
Based on the identified market, biomass streams, countries, requirements (legal acceptance and safety) etc. the AVA-CO2 HTC Treatment should be established in the targeted markets and provide high-grade fuels from wet biomass streams in an eco-innovative as well as resource-efficient treatment process. As the feasibility study showed the sewage sludge is a very promising potential waste stream which contain an important organic fraction and is available in all EU countries. The evaluation per Country was depending on the volume of sewage sludge produced and the disposal process available as well as the suitability for the AVA-CO2 HTC technology. As final conclusion we can state that we selected the following five European countries as most suitable for the AVA-CO2 HTC technology: Germany, Switzerland, UK, The Netherlands and Denmark. The same procedure was done for the selection of the most suitable sludge streams for the application of the
AVA-CO2 HTC technology, which was mostly depending on the generation of the various sludge streams for the years 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010.