Filtern
Dokumenttyp
Schlagworte
- Sewage sludge (3)
- Phosphorus recovery (2)
- Wastewater (2)
- ICP-MS (1)
- ICP-OES (1)
- Interlaboratory comparison (1)
- Klärschlamm (1)
- Klärschlammdüngung (1)
- Klärschlammverordnung (1)
- Landwirtschaft (1)
Organisationseinheit der BAM
Agricultural sewage sludge utilization becomes less important in Germany. In 2017, new fertilizer and waste laws caused the agricultural sewage sludge utilization to collapse by more than a quarter. From 2029, in German wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) phosphorus (P) must be recovered from sewage sludge ifit contains more than 2 wt % P. Agricultural utilization will be prohibited for large WWTPs > 100,000 population equivalents (pe) from 2029 and > 50,000 pe from 2032. In Germany, each federal state must annually report amounts and quality of agriculturally utilized sewage sludge which was 17 % of the total disposal in 2019. The reports of 10 States were evaluated for 2016 and 2017 representing approx. 60 % ofthe total agriculturally used sludge volume. Whereas phosphorus recovery is mandatory this does not apply to other nutrients. However, many P recovery processes recover other nutrients, too.
Considering three differentscenariosfor future German sewage sludge disposal Shows that 70 - 77 % ofthe P load in sewage sludge will probably be recovered in the future.
At the same time, this applies for about 0 - 16 % of nitrogen, 36 - 52 % of calcium, 31-53 % of potassium, and 40 - 52 % of magnesium. However, these recovered nutrient loads can substitute only 1 % or less ofthe commercial fertilizer demand except from phosphorus which is about 45 % ofthe demand.
Future nutrient recovery from sewage sludge regarding three different scenarios - German case study
(2022)
Agricultural sewage sludge utilization becomes less important in Germany. In 2017, new fertilizer and waste laws caused the agricultural sewage sludge utilization to collapse by more than a quarter. From 2029, German wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) must recover phosphorus (P) from sewage sludge if it contains more than 2 wt % P. Agricultural utilization will be prohibited for large WWTPs >100,000 population equivalents (pe) from 2029 and >50,000 pe from 2032. In Germany, each federal state must annually report amounts and quality of agriculturally utilized sewage sludge which was 16% of the total disposal in 2019. The reports of 10 states were evaluated for 2016 and 2017 representing approx. 60% of the total agriculturally used sludge volume. In 2016, 60% of the WWTPs’ sludges exceeded the recovery limit of 2 wt % P which is 70% of the amount of sludge and 85% of the phosphorus load. Other nutrients are not affected by the recovery obligation. However, many P recovery processes recover other nutrients, too. Considering three different scenarios for future German sewage sludge disposal shows that 70–77% of the P load in sewage sludge will probably be recovered in the future. At the same time, this applies for about 0–16% nitrogen, 36–52% of calcium, 31–53% of potassium, and 40–52% of magnesium. However, these recovered nutrients loads can substitute only 1% or less of the commercial fertilizer demand except from phosphorus which is up to 43% of the demand.
Die landwirtschaftliche Klärschlammverwertung ist in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland seit Jahren rückläufig, hatte im Jahr 2017 jedoch noch einen Anteil von rund 18 % [20]. Diese Art der Verwertung wird kontrovers diskutiert, da der Klärschlamm im Rahmen der Abwasserreinigung eine Schadstoffsenke darstellt. In vergangenen Jahrzehnten wurden insbesondere die hohen Gehalte an Schwermetallen im Klärschlamm als kritisch für eine landwirtschaftliche Verwertung eingestuft. Diese Belastung konnte allerdings durch Absenkung der Einträge von Schmermetallen in das Abwasser signifikant gesenkt werden. Neben Schwermetallen kamen jedoch auch organische Schadstoffe wie Pharmazeutika, Kosmetika und Haushaltschemikalien in den Fokus der Diskussion über den Einsatz von Klärschlamm auf Agrarflächen. Heute geraten zunehmend weitere Inhaltsstoffe in den Fokus, deren Auswirkungen noch nicht abschließend geklärt sind, weshalb eine einheitliche Bewertung über Grenzwerte nicht darstellbar ist. Beispiele für diese neuen Stoffgruppen sind Mikroplastik, Nanopartikel, Antibiotikaresistenzen und persistente organische Spurenstoffe. Neben den angesprochenen Risiken gibt es in Deutschland Regionen mit einem stark erhöhten Nährstoffüberschuss. In der Kritik steht vor allem eine nicht ordnungsgemäße Düngung mit Stickstoff, welche mit Nitratauswaschungen in das Grundwasser einhergeht. Um diese Grundwasserbelastung zu verhindern wurde u.a. das Düngerecht erneut verschärft, was die Flächenkonkurrenz zwischen Klärschlamm und Wirtschaftsdünger weiter vergrößern wird. Auf Druck der EU-Kommission stehen zudem weitere Anpassungen im Düngerecht bevor, da die beschlossenen Änderungen aus Kommissionssicht nicht ausreichen, um die Nitratrichtlinie einzuhalten. Vor dem Hintergrund der angeführten Probleme wurde im Koalitionsvertrag der 18. Legislaturperiode (2013) festgeschrieben, „die Klärschlammausbringung zu Düngezwecken [zu] beenden und Phosphor und andere Nährstoffe zurück[zu]gewinnen“ [5]. Die novellierte AbfKlärV beinhaltet allerdings kein grundsätzliches Aufbringungsverbot und eine Rückgewinnungspflicht besteht lediglich für den Nährstoff Phosphor. Es ist davon auszugehen, dass sich die neuen Regelungen im Düngerecht und der Klärschlammverordnung massiv auf die landwirtschaftliche Verwertung von Klärschlamm und damit auf die Kreislaufwirtschaft verschiedener Nährstoffe auswirken werden. Zur Ermittlung dieser Auswirkungen wird seit Oktober 2018 im Auftrag des Umweltbundesamtes das REFOPLAN-Projekt „extraWERT“ (FKZ 3718 26 330 0) von der Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) in Kooperation mit dem Institut für Siedlungswasserwirtschaft (ISA) der RWTH Aachen durchgeführt. In diesem Beitrag werden erste Ergebnisse dieses Projekts vorgestellt.
Phosphorus (P) recovery is obligatory for all sewage sludges with more than 20 g P/kg dry matter (DM) from 2029 in Germany. Nine wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) were chosen to investigate variations of phosphorus contents and other parameters in sewage sludge over the year. Monthly sewage sludge samples from each WWTP were analyzed for phosphorus and other matrix elements (C, N, H, Ca, Fe, Al, etc.), for several trace elements (As, Cr, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sn) and loss of ignition. Among the nine WWTPs, there are four which have phosphorus contents both above and below the recovery limit of 20 g/kg DM along the year. Considering the average phosphorus content over the year, only one of them is below the limit. Compared to other matrix elements and parameters, phosphorus fuctuations are low with an average of 7% over all nine WWTPs. In total, only hydrogen and carbon are more constant in the sludge.
In several WWTPs with chemical phosphorus elimination, phosphorus fuctuations showed similar courses like iron and/or aluminum. WWTPs with chamber flter presses rather showed dilution efects of calcium dosage. As result of this study, monthly phosphorus measurement is highly recommended to determine whether a WWTP is below the
20 g/kg DM limit.
Phosphorus recycling from sewage sludge will be obligatory in Germany from 2029. Phosphorus content determination in sewage sludge is crucial to assess the prescribed recycling rates. Currently, German law regards sample preparation using aqua regia digestion in a microwave or under reflux conditions as well as instrumental phosphorus determination by ICP-OES, ICP-MS, or photometric determination with ammonium molybdate as equivalent. However, it is questionable whether these methods are indeed equivalent regarding phosphorus quantification in sludges near the limit of 20 g/kg for mandatory recycling. To answer this question, 15 sewage sludges of 11 different wastewater treatment plants were investigated with all permitted method (digestion and measurement) combinations. Moreover, one sewage sludge was also examined in an interlaboratory comparison (ILC) with 28 participants. This study shows that the above-mentioned methods differ in some cases significantly but across all method combinations and sludges, phosphorus recovery was between 80 and 121% after normalization to the grand mean (average of 15 sludges between 85 and 111%). The ILC and the examination of 15 sludges produced largely similar results. There is a tendency to higher phosphorus recovery after microwave digestion compared to reflux digestion and ICP-OES measurements determine higher phosphorus contents than ICP-MS and photometric phosphorus determination. As a result, the authors recommend ICP-OES determination of phosphorus in sewage sludge after microwave digestion.