Foundation laid for one of the largest sewage sludge recycling plants in Germany

GICON prepares complete environmental documents as a single-source provider

The Bitterfeld-Wolfen Chemical Park is growing: over the next two years, one of the largest sewage sludge recycling plants in Germany will be built in Saxony-Anhalt. The state-of-the-art plant is scheduled to go into operation by the end of 2021 and will recycle approx. 260,000 tons of dehydrated sewage sludge from municipal sewage treatment plants per year. GICON representatives were also present at the groundbreaking ceremony at the beginning of October. The Dresden-based engineering service provider was in charge of the environmental planning.

Falk Rebbe, Business Unit Manager Environmental and Permit Planning, draws a positive conclusion: "Approval for the project was granted in just under two years after the start of the environmental investigations. This is very fast for a project of this size. This shows once again the well-attuned team of GICON engineers drawing on a wide range of expertise".

EIA report and expert opinion by GICON

The high quality report on the probable environmental impacts of the project (EIA report), which was required for the approval of the plant, was prepared by GICON together with numerous expert opinions (including noise prognosis, immission prognosis for air pollutants and odours, species protection and Natura 2000 tests) so that the permit could be obtained in a comparatively short time. This fact was also positively highlighted at the official groundbreaking ceremony. "This was made possible above all by our extensive experience with the permitting and environmental aspects of such a complex project," explains Falk Rebbe. A further advantage of GICON is the interdisciplinary cooperation, so that all special services and expert opinions are handled in-house. Interdisciplinary teams can be put together in a short time. Short coordination channels without loss of information among the project staff ensure compliance with all authority requirements for application documents and expert opinions. Thus, the project is an example of the wide range of services that GICON can provide with its own experts in the field of environmental and permit planning.

Background:

With this plant, the plant operator KSR Klärschlammrecycling GmbH wants to set an example for resource conservation and sustainability. The thermal utilization of the sewage sludge removes pollutants (e.g. microplastics, pharmaceutical residues) so that soil and groundwater are protected. On the other hand, a resource-saving phosphorus recovery is possible from the end product after incineration.