INNERS : Significant reduction of energy consumption of wastewater treatment plants

On the 3rd June 2015, the closing event of the (INNERS) project "Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle", which is co-funded by the European Interreg IVB programme, took place at the Heiderscheidergrund water treatment station. The event was chaired by Carole Dieschbourg, Minister for the Environment.

The project, which included eleven partners of the Northwest region of Europe, aimed at reducing the energy consumption of sewage treatment plants, which are very energy-intensive, particularly by making the best use of the energy and the heat contained in wastewater. Emphasis has also been placed on the most energy-intensive steps of the treatment process, the biology, which alone accounts for over half of the total energy consumed by the station.

The project results are impressive. By applying the solutions developed by INNERS, many treatment plants in Europe could be self-sufficient in terms of heat and produce between 50 and 60% of the electricity they need for their operation. The energy consumption by the plants, meanwhile, could be reduced by 30% or even 45% if treatment plants were fitted with a deammonification process.

The Luxembourg project team included the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), the Syndicat intercommuncal de Dépollution des Eaux résiduaires du Nord du Luxembourg (SIDEN) and the University of Luxembourg. The team was in charge of developing, in collaboration with the German water association Wupperverband, a multi-criteria system for real-time energy optimization of wastewater treatment plants. Called "Energy Online System" (EOS), this tool provides operators of treatment plants with continuous data on the energy consumption of their station. It allows them to rapidly implement actions to optimize their energy consumption and to measure their effects. This is very difficult if continuous data is unavailable. EOS also compares the performance of sewage treatment plants: a benchmarking toolthat is very effective to improve its own performance!

"The INNERS project is a good example of successful collaboraTion," said Roland Schaack, director of SIDEN. "We benefit from the latest knowledge and technologies. Applied to the treatment station of Bleesbrück, the new concepts will allow a saving of nearly 50,000 euros per year, or 1.5 million euros for the entire lifetime of a station. This will, in turn, have a positive effect on the water price."

To learn more about the project and its results, please visit the dedicated website: www.inners.eu