The Dutch Waterboard Vallei & Veluwe recently awarded Eliquo a contract for the design, delivery and two-years operation of a sludge drying facility at the Ede WWTP. From the results of this contract, the Waterboard will decide on the strategic feasibility of sludge drying using waste heat from other processes. By using this technology, the Waterboard is aiming for a significant reduction in sludge treatment and disposal costs. Thereby reducing one of their main operational costs.

In the Netherlands disposal of sludge to agriculture land is strictly prohibited and therefore sludges are incinerated at a high cost. Together with energy costs, sludge disposal is responsible for the majority of costs of treating municipal sewage.

At the Waterboard’s Amersfoort WWTP, Eliquo is currently commissioning the energy self-sufficient operation of the WWTP. LYSOTHERM® Thermal Pressure Hydrolysis technology is used in conjunction with digestion to produce significantly more biogas which results in greater energy generation and production of substantial waste heat. The Waterboard is now aiming to utilise this waste heat for drying their dewatered sludges in order to achieve a further 25 times volume reduction. This will lead to another significant reduction of their transportation and incineration costs for sludge disposal.

At the WWTP of Ede, Eliquo will deliver an integrated low temperature sludge drying facility using their in-house ELODRY® technology. The ELODRY® will dry sludges up to 90% dry solids. The new Ede facility will be constructed entirely off-site, and be delivered in a modular format equipped with “on board” exhaust gas treatment to eliminate odour emissions. After two years of operation, the Waterboard will then decide on a large scale application at their other WWTPs, such as Amersfoort.