INNOVATIVE TREATMENT SOLUTIONS FOR SEWAGE SLUDGE RECOVERY ON A FP7 PROJECT ROUTES Extended abstract

ROUTES is addressed to assess new routes in wastewater and sludge treatment focusing on three main objectives: 1. optimization of the sludge quality for agricultural use with the goal to produce a clean and full stabilized sludge through intensive stabilization processes with attention to a broad spectrum of parameters including micropollutants, pathogens and their indicators. 2. minimization of the sludge to be disposed by innovative technical solutions based on different approaches, either on the water or sludge treatment lines; 3. recovery of valuable resources before sludge disposal by producing a liquid fertilizer [(NH4)2SO4], biopolymers or optimizing methane production by anaerobic treatments. Technical and economic assessment of the investigated techniques on laboratory and pilot scale were carried out in a typical benchmarking study. The whole set of data is then provided to the partner involved in environmental assessment where different impact categories are considered (global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential and photochemical ozone creation potential).