Europe`s sewage treatment plants could be transformed into energy-generating powerhouses by 2030

The international research project commissioned by STOWA, the Dutch Foundation for Applied Water Research, found that it would be technologically possible to upgrade existing sewage works to become energy-neutral or even energy-generating.

The report recommends that techniques to enhance the primary sedimentation of waste water by adding chemicals can create an energy-neutral plant, before the deployment of energy-generating techniques such as thermal hydrolysis of waste can be deployed.

The first such facility is currently being built in Utrecht, although other Dutch water authorities are investigating a more centralised approach in which all sewage sludge from a specific region will be treated in a single 'energy factory'. Other concepts to make better use of waste include recovering valuable resources such as phosphates from sewage or reusing waste water for boilers and agriculture.