Dutch Waterboard Vallei & Veluwe is set to transform its Amersfoort wastewater treatment plant (WwTP) into an energy and nutrient recovery facility.
The primary focus of the project, known as Omzet.Amersfoort, is efficiency and maximum sustainability. In July 2013, the SH+E Group was awarded with a contract for the design, realisation and long term maintenance of the Project. The SH+E Group is cooperating closely with the engineering consultancy Grontmij (design), Hegeman (realisation works) and the Canadian firm Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc. (nutrient recovery and fertiliser production).
All sludges produced by the treatment of wastewater from the communities Amersfoort, Soest, Nijkerk and Woudenberg will be centrally digested at the Amersfoort WWTP. By doing this, more biogas will be produced for conversion into Green Electricity. The process of digestion will be enhanced with Thermal Pressure Hydrolysis (TPH), in order to increase the biogas production by “cracking” the sludge structures under high temperature and pressure.
The green energy produced will be sufficient to treat all the wastewater from the City of Amersfoort (150.000 p.e.) on a 100% energy-autonomous basis. Furthermore, a surplus of approx. 2,000,000 kWh, which will not be used by the treatment processes, will be supplied to the national power grid, sufficient to provide 600 households with green electricity during the year.
The digestion and sludge treatment processes will also produce waste streams that are rich of nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen. The project will employ nutrient recovery technology from Ostara to recover and transform these valuable nutrients into an environmentally responsible fertiliser called Crystal Green®. The facility will produce approximately 900 tonnes of high quality fertiliser annually.
With applications in the agriculture, turf and horticulture sectors, Crystal Green® is European Certified in the category with the highest quality fertilisers.
As main contractor, the SH+E Group will supply and install all processes for treatment of the sludges, thermal pressure hydrolysis (Lysotherm®) and the generation of heat and electricity out of the produced biogas.
The Project is expected to be completed in 2015, which is an important milestone for the Waterboard in the realisation of their ambition to both treat wastewater energy autonomously and at the same time maximise recovery of valuable nutrients from processed waste streams.
The project is supported by the EU LIFE+ subsidy program.
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