
Flexible in-between storage of sewage sludge
Waterbedrijf Limburg purchased a mobile Feedtuber system to have an in-between storage capacity for the sewage sludge that accumulates at its 17 municipal waste water treatment plants.
The Feedtuber bags the sewage sludge in large plastic tubes for temporary storage up to 24 months.


First for sewage sludge
Feedtuber is a company specialized in temporary agricultural storage of biomass, animal feed and manure in large-sized plastic tubes.
Last year the company demonstrated its bagging system at Waterbedrijf Limburg for the temporary storage of sewage sludge. This has now led to the purchase of the first machine.
According to Feedtuber, the system provides Waterbedrijf Limburg a flexibility to better match the volume of sewage sludge with the capacity to process it. As soon as too much sludge is produced, the machine can be started up and presses the sludge into the flexible tubes.
In case the buffer capacity is not required, the system does not take up unnecessary space.


Calamities
The temporary bagging of sewage sludge can also be an option in case of a calamity at a sludge treatment facility. Director Jan-Dirk van der Tol of Feedtuber refers to the sudden shutdown of a Dutch waste incinerator.
‘Our flexible storage system can be deployed immediately and store sewage sludge for up to 24 months at low cost’, says Van der Tol. ‘The investment for a complete system is around 75,000 euro. The capacity is at least 50 tons per hour. The costs for the system per ton of sludge stored are between 5 and 7 euro per ton.’