Sewage sludge mono-incineration Straubing/Germany

The 2019 referendum was the starting signal for the sewage sludge mono-incineration project in Straubing. On 9 July, the contract for the process engineering of the plant was awarded to the Berching-based company sludge2energy GmbH, in consortium with HUBER SE and WTE Wassertechnik GmbH.
The sewage sludge mono-incineration plant is designed for 120,000 tonnes of sewage sludge per year. It is designed to be self-sufficient and - in the spirit of Straubing - equipped with a highly efficient flue gas cleaning system that already meets the new possible limit values. From the sewage sludge, as the biomass used, environmentally friendly electrical and thermal energy is generated in surplus.

For Biomasseverwertung Straubing GmbH (BSR for short), the owner and operator of the future mono-incineration plant for sewage sludge, the signing of the contract is a milestone in a mammoth project. "We started planning back in 2017, today the groundbreaking signature takes place and in a good three years the commissioning!", Johannes Schneider, managing director of BSR GmbH, reflects on the course of the project.

Behind the joint venture sludge2energy GmbH are the environmental companies HUBER SE and WTE Wassertechnik GmbH. Thanks to convincing references and harmonious cooperation with the city of Straubing in the past, the company based in the Erasbach industrial park was able to win the tender. Managing director Harald Plank, HUBER SE board member Georg Huber and WTE managing director Werner Casagrande played their part in the ceremonial signing of the contract. "There has been a lot of discussion about sewage sludge for years, but little implementation," says Plank, describing the situation in Germany.

Exemplary for this, he says, are transport routes for sewage sludge in Bavaria that are up to 400 kilometres long. Routes that will be significantly reduced in the future thanks to the large capacity of the Straubing plant. Plank was proud of the progressive thinking and actions of the city of Straubing and was pleased that the citizens could also benefit from this project thanks to the energy surplus. Looking to the future, Plank suggested to tackle the issue of the Bavarian phosphorus strategy together, as this task has also been dealt with intensively for several years.

Outlook until commissioning

The employees of slugde2energy GmbH will complete the plant planning by March of next year, as estimated. Approval from the city - in accordance with the requirements of the referendum - is expected by the end of 2021. Commissioning of the plant will take place in 2024.