Energy-Efficient Wastewater Treatment

Learning targets

If you work at a Dutch water authority, then you're familiar with their ambitious goal: by 2030, they aim to operate completely energy-neutral. A major challenge in achieving this are the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), which use a significant amount of electricity for their aeration systems. At the same time, WWTPs offer many opportunities to contribute to the energy transition. Do you want to learn what those opportunities are? Then join this course.

Through the Energy-Efficient Wastewater Treatment course, you will gain more insight into the energy aspects of the various treatment processes at the WWTP. For instance, electricity and heat can be generated from sludge using a sludge digestion system and a combined heat and power (CHP) system. You will learn to optimize processes within the sludge line for this application. Or how about producing green gas? The course focuses on both theoretical knowledge and practical skills, which are essential for application in real-world practice.

With the Energy-Efficient Wastewater Treatment course, you’ll view your WWTP from the perspective of the energy transition, and the plant where you’ve worked for so long will look completely different!

The following topics are covered: 

• overview of energy-efficient treatment and the operator’s sphere of influence
• costs versus sustainability
• sludge line, including logistics, digestion, and final processing
• optimization of electricity consumption and cost calculations in the water and sludge lines
• practical assignments and case studies

After completing this course, you will have the following knowledge and skills: 

• the significance of energy-efficient treatment for your plant
• process management within complex sludge chains
• implementation of optimizations in the water and sludge line

Program

The following topics are covered during the course:

• introduction to energy awareness
• sludge logistics
• complete sludge line in the treatment plant
• final sludge processing
• optimization of costs and energy consumption
• optimization of the sludge and water line
• excursion

Personal Contribution

At World Water Academy it’s all about both knowledge and practice. Therefore, we expect each participant to bring their own work experience to the course. What challenges are you facing? And what experiences can you share that others can learn from?

Target group

The Energy-Efficient Wastewater Treatment course is intended for (process) operators in water treatment and process technologists with extensive experience in treatment plants. Are you looking for deeper knowledge to better meet new regulations and quality standards? Then this course is highly suitable for you.

Entry Level

You should have a background in MBO/HBO (secondary/higher vocational education). Additionally, we expect that you have completed the Advanced Wastewater Treatment Technology course or have an equivalent level of experience. If you do not fully meet these requirements, the course coordinator will contact you after registration to discuss what is needed for you to successfully complete the course.

Special Notes

This course is part of the Future-Oriented Wastewater Treatment training program. This program consists of 4 courses, each offered and completed separately.