What alternatives are available then?
Instead of simply spreading our cities" toxic sewage waste over farms and forests (future generations will depend on healthy soils) we should be looking at alternatives that meet certain goals - the alternatives should provide energy, provide a method of harvesting needed nitrogen and phosphorus, and of course they should eliminate as many of the pollutants as possible.
Recently many countries are creating legislation demanding that these goals are met with respect to the sludges they generate.
The Federal Government of Germany has passed new Sewage Sludge rules as of October 2017- "We will phase-out the direct use of sewage sludge as a fertilizer on land and promote the recycling of Phosphorus and other nutrients"
The Swedish government has recently made a similar pronouncement - "A ban on spreading sewage sludge should not be an obstacle to the extraction of biogas. The aim is to recycle both energy and phosphorus from the sewage sludge without the risk of health and environmentally harmful substances coming into the environment"
Instead of simply spreading our cities" toxic sewage waste over farms and forests (future generations will depend on healthy soils) we should be looking at alternatives that meet certain goals - the alternatives should provide energy, provide a method of harvesting needed nitrogen and phosphorus, and of course they should eliminate as many of the pollutants as possible.
Recently many countries are creating legislation demanding that these goals are met with respect to the sludges they generate.
The Federal Government of Germany has passed new Sewage Sludge rules as of October 2017- "We will phase-out the direct use of sewage sludge as a fertilizer on land and promote the recycling of Phosphorus and other nutrients"
The Swedish government has recently made a similar pronouncement - "A ban on spreading sewage sludge should not be an obstacle to the extraction of biogas. The aim is to recycle both energy and phosphorus from the sewage sludge without the risk of health and environmentally harmful substances coming into the environment"
Both gasification and pyrolysis are improving by leaps and bounds as good "green" alternatives to land application. For more on these please see:
Biochar from Biosolids - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=E_-dXjyjTgs
Renewable Energy solutions - https://ariescleanenergy.com/
Tennessee Gasification - https://ariescleanenergy.com/video-biochar-futuristic-look-recycling-lebanon-waste-energy-plant/
Extraction of energy from sludge in the UK - http://wwtonline.co.uk/features/gasification-of-sludge-innovation-in-action#.WsVhnUxFx9C
Next Generation Supercritical Water Oxidation http://www.tcrpc.org/announcements/Biosolids/12_Nagar.pdf
Biochar from Biosolids - http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/5/956/htm
Pyrolysis of Biosolids / Biochar - https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/8/11/524/htm
Energy Recovery from Sewage Sludge https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acssuschemeng.8b03857
An energy recovery system (pyrolysis reactor) - sustainable and efficient. http://www.bioforcetech.com/pyrolysis.html
Resource management http://www.pivotalirm.com/index.htm
Emergent Waste Solution - www.ewscanada.com
Scientific American - The Future of Sewage is Power and Profits
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/plasma-gasification-alberta-proposal-1.3373979
Emergent Waste Solutions, Advanced Pyrolysis System - https://vimeo.com/95563860 -
An Austrian System - making biochar fertilizer with Sludge - http://www.greenlife.co.at/uploads/2/3/2/5/23252088/greenlife_pyrolysis.pdf
GLES - Waste to Energy by pyrolysis - http://www.glescorp.com/en/
Great new technology - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RAXTxLeR-A
Japan is making energy with their Sewer Sludge - http://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035504.html
Toronto ponders making energy from sludge - http://torontoist.com/2016/03/public-works-turning-our-waste-from-flushable-to-fuel/
BBC NEWS - Poop into Profit
Dealing with sewage the Swiss way - sustainable and clean
(I will be posting more here in the near future as this is such an important concern)
