Best Practices for Sustainable Wastewater Treatment: Initial Case Study Incorporating European Experience and Evaluation Tool Concept

This research evaluated the European experience with energy reduction and best practices at wastewater treatment plants. The project team considered European facilities with a history of process optimization that could serve as examples of best practices for the industry. The report highlights Strass im Zillertal WWTP near Innsbruck, Austria, a municipal facility that provides for both nitrogen and phosphorus removal. An optimization process spanning more than a decade has enabled the Strass plant to attain the goal of producing more electricity on an annual basis than it consumes. Factors specific to the plant contributed to its transformation into a net electricity producer, including the facility's need for only low level (5 meter static head) influent pumping. North American plant operators can readily apply these success factors to their facilities. Published by WERF. 74 pages. Soft cover and online PDF. (2010)

Originally funded as WERF project OWSO4R07a.