New project in the field of biomass: MoVekK

In July 2023, the new research project MoVekK (Mobile Incineration Plant for Municipal Sewage Sludge) has started in our Biomass working group. The goal of the project is the thermal treatment of sewage sludge from small municipalities using a mobile incinerator located directly at the wastewater treatment plants.

The project focuses on developing a mobile sewage sludge incineration plant specifically tailored to wastewater treatment plants catering to communities with populations ranging from 1.000 to 50.000 residents. The objective is to avoid the need for transporting sewage sludge to large centralized incineration plants, thereby avoiding the associated high costs and reducing CO2 emissions. The envisioned plant will be designed to be highly compact and robust, allowing for easy transportation of all its components. The mobility aspect will also facilitate collaborative efforts among municipalities, enabling them to jointly acquire the plant or lease it for specific periods, ultimately leading to reduced acquisition expenses.

The innovative Integral Combustion Technology developed by our project partner, LaSa-energy GmbH, enables precise control of thermal output ranging from 90 to 400 kW, as well as rapid start-up and shutdown of the plant within minutes. Consequently, even small quantities of sewage sludge with varying qualities can be reliably and environmentally sustainably processed.

TEER, as part of the project, is developing a thermochemical sewage sludge treatment method tailored to this specific combustion technology, involving the addition of additives during the combustion process. This approach aims to reduce emissions, especially sulfur oxides, directly at the source and significantly improve the quality of the ashes produced. This means that the emission limit values of the 17th Federal Immission Control Ordinance (17. BImschV.) are met with the least possible exhaust gas cleaning effort, and the generated sewage sludge ash complies with the requirements of the German Fertilizer Ordinance (DüMV). Furthermore, the thermochemical treatment is expected to increase the availability of phosphorus in the sewage sludge ashes, making them suitable for direct local use as fertilizers.