When the wastewater is cleaned, sewage sludge remains. In the past, this was applied as fertilizer in fields - but this is becoming more difficult or almost impossible due to new laws. So an alternative is needed.
Fürstenfeldbruck - Thomas König, head of the waste incineration plant in Geiselbullach (GfA), suggests that the municipalities of the Dachau and Fürstenfeldbruck districts unite to form a special-purpose association. This could build a sewage sludge incineration plant on the GfA site. You could use the waste heat. GfA already supplies various facilities with district heating. At the same time, a plant for the recovery of phosphorus could be built in the long term - the technology is not yet available. The ashes from the incineration would simply be kept until the technology is ready.
With this goal in mind, a study was commissioned some time ago. A kind of fact check: how many sewage treatment plants are there, how large would the sludge quantities be and what would the legal circumstances be? The municipalities and cities from both counties have participated, says König - that alone is a certain achievement. But now he is pushing for decisions: the committees should have made decisions by the middle of the year - despite Corona and Wahl.
The municipality of Petershausen (Dachau district) has already given the green light. The Amperverband, which disposed of large parts of the district, had also given approval. Whether the special-purpose association comes about depends primarily on the cities of Fürstenfeldbruck and Dachau. Only with their sludge quantities can you achieve the mass with which an investment pays off. If other, smaller wastewater treatment plant operators were added, it would be all the better.
König admits that the costs of the incineration plant cannot currently be estimated at euros and cents. Expenditures would, however, be within the usual market prices and would not be significantly different from the amount per ton disposed of.
It is of course more convenient for sewage treatment plant operators to simply look for a buyer, as is now the case. However, it is never valid to check what this ultimately does to the mud. In addition, a common facility, which GfA would manage, would save transport routes. Keyword: climate protection. König is convinced that the plant would be an opportunity for the Bruck and Dachau region to jointly regulate the sewage sludge issue.
