The Use of Biogas From the Anaerobic Digestion of Sewage Sludge to Improve the Energy Balance of Wastewater Treatment Plants

Abstract

A rational way to treat and disposal sewage sludge is to use it as a substrate for biogas production in the anaerobic digestion process, doing so can lead to an improvement in the energy efficiency of the entire wastewater treatment plant, and even enable it to become energy self-sufficient. The article analyses the amount of energy consumption in wastewater treatment plants, the course of the biogas production process and examples of wastewater treatment plants that are close to becoming, or have managed to become, "ecologically sustainable" facilities thanks to the production of green energy.