USP & SUSTAINABILITY (SDG)

Sewage sludge has potential and has so far been neglected. There must be alternative uses for it, to make our daily waste usable again, to recycle it, so to speak. In view of our future alone, that of our children's children and the increasing population growth, sustainable green solutions are needed. 

The RSR process stands out as a zero-discharge solution and one can rightly claim that it is an exemplary project with a model effect on a regional and supra-regional level. Equipped plants make a significant contribution to achieving the climate targets set.  

The addition of an RSR plant to a wastewater treatment plant helps to significantly reduce the ecological footprint by reducing CO2 emissions. Vital raw materials such as phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium and many more are recovered and can be further processed into an organic-mineral complete fertiliser. This fertiliser is used in agriculture in the sense of the circular economy and contributes to better plant growth and thus to a higher harvest yield. It should be mentioned that the recovery of valuable phosphorus in particular is crucial for our continued existence. Phosphorus has been on the list of critical raw materials since 2010. 

A thermally usable and CO2-neutral energy source can be produced from the remaining sludge through drying processes.

Hardly any emissions from the RSR process. The emissions that do occur are harmless and odourless and are released into the atmosphere via filters. 

The process water required for the process can be returned to the secondary clarifier after use. In addition, the quality of the recirculated process water is controlled.

Wastewater treatment plant operators benefit from the use of the RSR process directly at the wastewater treatment plant, high transport and disposal costs are eliminated and valuable materials (PecuPHOS = P-recovery for use in the chemical industry; PecuGROW = organic-mineral complete fertiliser; PecuPOWER = CO2-neutral biofuel, comparable to pellets).

Waste that has to be disposed of costs money - the population bears the costs indirectly through the purchase of treated drinking water. Through the RSR process, every sewage treatment plant operator has the opportunity to convert his plant into a zero-discharge plant. The good thing about this is that the addition of the plants means that there are no longer any disposal costs for the sewage sludge - this in turn represents a reduction in costs for the population.  

The recovery of phosphorus is also an important future goal for the continued existence of our humanity and is anchored in the Sewage Sludge Ordinance. Phosphorus is vital for us and, when applied as a fertiliser, contributes to better crop yields. Phosphorus is a limited resource and can only be mined as phosphate. Unfortunately, phosphate is found outside the EU, in countries such as China and Russia. These countries have already imposed export quotas on phosphorus or do not want to export it at all in the future. For this reason, it is important in the EU to recover phosphorus from secondary raw materials such as sewage sludge.