Suez has been selected by Mulhouse region’s SIVOM for the construction of a methanation unit to convert 00% of sludge from Sausheim wastewater treatment plant to supply green energy for the equivalent of 125 urban transport buses by 2020.

Suez

Image: Suez to supply methanation unit in France. Photo: Courtesy of sherry wil/FreeImages.com

Suez stated that the methanation unit will work in synergy with the wastewater treatment plant and the neighboring waste-to-energy power plant.

It will make it possible to valorize in green energy all the sewage sludge and can use the heat of the waste-to-energy power plant to maintain two methanation tanks at constant temperature (37° celcius). Sludge collected from the methanation process will then be centrifuged and its solid residue recovered as energy.

Suez also stated that by the end of the 21 month project, in mid-2020, the facility will have a treatment capacity of 490,000 inhabitants. It will produce 2000,000m3 of purified biomethane every year, which will be injected into the GRDF network to supply the equivalent of 125 urban transport buses or 19GWh/ year.

Suez Group Senior Executive vice president in charge of France, Italy and Central Europe Marie-Ange Debon said: “First operator of territorial biogas plants in France, the SUEZ Group is proud to put its expertise and its capacity for innovation at the service of the territory to accompany the Mulhouse region’s SIVOM in its commitment to the circular economy and the energy transition.”

Suez also stated that its methanation unit will recover phosphorus contained in the treatment sludge into the methanation process and then transforms it into struvite. By implementing this process, the Mulhouse region’s SIVOM will be the first territory in France to valorize phosphorous on a wastewater treatment plant, with an annual production of 3,500 bags of struvite for local agriculture.

The project is part of energy transition of the Mulhouse agglomeration. It also complements wastewater treatment plant on the one hand and waste-to-energy power plant on the other hand.

The Mulhouse region’s SIVOM president Jean Rottner said: “The realization of this project is a major element in the energy transition policy conducted throughout the agglomeration of Mulhouse. The entire Sausheim site, which includes the waste-to-energy power plant and the wastewater treatment plant, evolves progressively to become a major actor in the circular economy and renewable energy production, by mixing both production of electricity, steam, gas and fertilizer.”