During a field trip from 18th to 21st August 2019, 17 ISAH research assistants and professors visited a wide variety of projects in the context of water use in the Netherlands and Germany. The group visited various rainproof projects in Amsterdam, the SNB''s mono-sludge incineration plant in Moerdijk, the La Trappe brewery, the municipal sewage treatment plant Simpelveld, and the construction site of the Emscher Genossenschaft sewage pumping station in Oberhausen.
The first station included a visit to various projects for heavy rainfall prevention in urban areas in Amsterdam. The Amsterdam Rainproof Platform offers the possibility to connect different interest groups that protect the city from heavy rain events through different projects and initiatives (waternet). Amongst other things, projects in residential and office quarters were visited - from roof and façade greening to planted rainwater retention elements and the bank building "Circl", which was designed in line with the Circular Economy principle.
On the second day, the visit took place in Europe''s largest mono-sludge incinerator of the SNB company (SNB) in Moerdijk, in which 420 to 450 tons of sewage sludge are incinerated annually. In addition to the bunkers for sludge storage, the sludge dryers, steam turbines, fluidized bed furnaces, and flue gas cleaning could also be visited.
The excursion then led to the La Trappe Brewery in Koningshoeven. Besides the beer production the Biomakery Project could be visited (nextgenwater). The basic principle of the project is the modular and flexible construction of the biological purification, to use as much water and nutrients as possible in a regenerative and sustainable way. In addition to a Metabolic Network Reactor (MNR), technologies developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) for long-term missions are used.
On the last day of the trip, a visit to the municipal sewage treatment plant in Simpelveld took place. The treatment plant combines a modular and flexible construction according to the Verdygo design (verdygodesign), with innovative technology of the company Nereda (Nereda). The Nereda technology purifies the water in the biological stage using aerobic granular sludge, which, due to its good settling properties, enables energy and area savings compared to conventional activated sludge processes.
The last station of the excursion was the construction site of the pumping station in Oberhausen. In the future, 16000 L of wastewater per second will be lifted from a depth of 40 m as part of the Emscher conversion, before being forwarded for treatment in the Dinslaken (eglv) wastewater treatment plant. The scientific staff had the opportunity to look at the pump foundations and sewers at a depth of 40 m.
We would like to thank waternet Amsterdam, SNB, Waterschap De Dommel, SEMiLLA IPStar, Waterschapsbedrijf Limburg & Verdygo, Nereda, and the Emscher Genossenschaft, as well as their staff for the interesting and varied insights into the practice and the different methods of water and waste treatment.
