LIFE-DRY4GAS Project Conference: Circular economy of sewage sludge.

Last Tuesday 20th June, the LIFE-DRY4GAS Project Conference: Circular economy of sewage sludge has taken place in CEDER-CIEMAT, organised by CEDER-CIEMAT, University of Valladolid and CIEDA-CIEMAT.

Click on the video frame to see the Conference presentations:

Firstly, Virginia Pérez, a CEDER-CIEMAT researcher and project coordinator has shown LIFE-DRY4GAS project and the sustainable environmental solution that the project proposes for the treatment of sewage sludge from Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP). Sewage sludge is dried in a solar dryer that uses residual heat from the process and then the dry product is gasified obtaining thermal and electrical energy.

Felipe Bastida from CEBAS-CSIC, has presented the impact of sludge and gasification biochar on soil health, fertility and biodiversity in a grapefruit crop as a substitute or in combination with more traditional chemical fertilizers, as a result of the LIFE-DRY4GAS project.

The presentation of REBI, by Marta Pilar Lázaro Yubero, has also focused on the fertilization of soil with ashes obtained in biomass combustion processes in boilers managed by REBI in district heating located at different provinces.

The Conference has also shown the various management of sewage sludge in different Autonomous Communities and at different scales. Manuel Abellán, from ESAMUR, María Sanz, from SOMACYL, Raquel Moreno, from Aguas de Soria and Félix Gonzalo, from UVA/OCR-ELECNOR, have presented the current situation of sewage sludge management, its problems and future prospects in the treatment of sludge in Murcia, in towns with 100 - 9000 inhabitants equivalent in Castilla y León, in the city of Soria and in small urban agglomerations.

The LIFE SMART Agromobility Project in which the University of Valladolid participates and which is based on the use of algae to treat and transform sewage sludge into a by-product with better conditions for use in other applications, has also been explained.

Finally, from CIEDA-CIEMAT, Eva Blasco has given an updated view of the legal framework of sewage sludge, as well as the evolution of their regulations in recent years. The large amount of applicable legislation, although not always useful for the case of study, has been become evident.

From a more practical point of view and to conclude the Conference, a visit to the solar biomass drying facilities and to the gasification plant located in CEDER-CIEMAT has been carried out. It has been possible to know first-hand the prototypes that have served as a reference for the development of the LIFE-DRY4GAS Project in the WWTP of San Javier (Murcia).