"Waste Water Mud the New ‘Green’ Fuel", page 1

The Link

Wastewater treatment facilities end up dumping a lot of mud that is extracted from the in-flowing water. And, like everything else, that mud takes up space. Space that could be used for other things, even at the dumping yards. But researchers from the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) have suggested, and successfully shown, that the waste mud doesn’t need to be taken to a dumping ground; rather, it can be used as fuel.

Interesting. Mud as fuel?

The Catalan plant, at which the study was done, has now substituted 20% of its fossil fuel energy for the fuel from waste water treatment plant mud. That 20% has led to a 140,000 tonne reduction in CO2 emissions between 2003 and 2006, which has impacts on both the environment and the health of people living near the plant. With the decrease in pollution, especially CO2, the potential deaths from exposure to chemical pollutants will have been reduced greatly. The study shows that using this green fuel would reduce the cancer rate by 4.56 per million inhabitants, which is good news for more than just the cement industry.

I have to admit the article does a poor job of explaining how this works other than saying the plant 'burns' the mud replacing 20% of its fossil fuel use. So the exact science I am unaware of but the idea of replacing our present fuels with 'mud', more importantly waste mud seems pretty bad-ba-dunk-a-dunk. Enjoy!