An optimal solution to achieve the energy neutral Waste Water Treatment Plant

Abstract

Many recent studies have shown processes or models to minimize the energy consumption on a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in operation. Today the main drivers are the energy and CO2 reduction. On existing plants, the potential success of achieving the Energy neutral WWTP depends on the effluent guarantees demanded and the eventual additional carbon sources on the digesters. Veolia has now developed a tool to estimate the energy consumption and the CO2 impact to select the appropriate treatment lines (water and sludge) up front at the project stage. The real challenge is to cover the needs of the plant without external carbon sources added to the digester. At the project stage, before the bid of the WWTP, due to time constraints only few comparisons can be performed to predict the energy consumption and CO2 impact and provide the best solution to reach to the energy neutral plant as electricity wise. One conclusion of the study is that, the raw water characteristics and the effluent guarantee has a great impact on the possibilities to reach the target. Furthermore, working on reducing the power consumption and on increasing the biogas production for example by a continuous Thermal hydrolysis is a good way to go towards self sufficiency.