Amount awarded: £694,431
Led by: Severn Trent Water
Partners: Anglian Water, Aston University, CCm Technologies Ltd, Imperial College London, Jacobs UK Ltd, Scottish Water, Spring Innovation Ltd, Thames Water, Uisce Éireann, WRM Ltd
By-products from wastewater treatment are carefully managed. The project will investigate biochar production as an alternative to conventional biosolids management practices. Biochar is a charcoal-like product that can be created from sewage by-products. Biochar has several potential benefits, including improving soil fertility, sequestering carbon, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“This will be a game changer for carbon and the environment, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and put the goodness back into the soil. This is a key initiative for us and forms part of our long-term plans for a circular economy.” – Pete Vale, Carbon and Circular Economy Architect, Severn Trent Water
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Having started the project, the original plan had to be amended and now it is planned to produce biochar by using an advanced pyrolysis reactor located in the UK. To date, we have engaged with two pyrolysis reactor suppliers to produce biochar from biosolids and assess the potential of pyrolysis to remove emerging contaminants (such as PFAS) from biosolids, and to be used for other applications (e.g. as a fertiliser). The produced biochar will be fully characterised (e.g. textural properties, PFAS content, heavy metals, etc.) by our partner, who is in the process of securing resources (e.g. a post-doc) to help to deliver this work. We have held meetings with CCm to plan the amount of biochar needed to produce and test biochar-based fertiliser. The plan is to start the fertiliser production from February 2025 to carry out some tests in pot in a laboratory. Exhaust gas from the pyrolysis reactor will also be collected and characterised to assist in the fate of contaminants (e.g. PFAS) assessment. It is expected that biochar and fertiliser will be produced, characterised, and tested from February 2025. Technical and economical assessment will also be carried out for the biochar production in order to assist the market assessment.
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