Feasibility study for co-digestion of sewage sludge with OFMSW on two wastewater treatment plants in Germany

In the past years, wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in Germany have often been enlarged or expanded. However, it has become evident that the prognosticated increase in wastewater amount has not become a reality and thus free capacities, particularly in the sewage sludge digesters, are available. A possibility for the use of these available capacities is the fermentation of sewage sludge together with organic waste. A feasibility study for two different wastewater treatment plants in Germany was done in order to estimate if fermentation of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) affects the wastewater treatment plant operation. In this study, the technical, economic and ecological aspects of co-digestion were investigated for the plants selected.