Swedish tech company C-Green Technology AB together with the municipality-owned water and wastewater company Roslagsvatten and the Swedish Environmental Research Institute IVL have announced their collaboration to build the world's first sludge-free sewage treatment plant in Margretelund, Sweden. By integrating C-Green’s environmental technology, sludge will be completely avoided as an end-product.

Several hundred million tonnes of wet sludge are produced by sewage treatment plants every year worldwide, resulting in greenhouse gas emissions as sludge decomposes and potential spread of environmental toxins and infectious agents. The technology developed by C-Green - OxyPower HTC ™ - converts sludge into a dry, sterile and carbon-rich product. This HTC biocoal can then be used such as soil improvement or biofuel. The environmental and climate benefits are significant: the smell of sludge disappears, truck transports to and from the treatment plants are reduced by 75 percent and by ending sludge disposal, greenhouse gas emissions are expected to decrease by approx. 80 percent compared to today's sludge management.

"C-Green's technology for sludge management is completely in line with our vision of integrating sustainable solutions in our services. In combination with IVL's research and expertise, we will be able to contribute to invaluable progress in the development of wastewater treatment worldwide, and that makes me and my co-workers very proud", says Christian Wiklund, CEO of Roslagsvatten.

"The collaboration with Roslagsvatten and IVL is a big step forward to further adapt sewage sludge treatment, especially when it comes to reducing climate impact. Every ton of sludge can cause emissions of 200 kg of greenhouse gases or more. With our process, you avoid the sludge completely and instead, the carbon is captured in a totally new and useful product", says Erik Odén, CEO of C-Green.

The collaborative project will begin with tests at pilot scale with the construction of a full-scale plant at Roslagsvatten's treatment plant in Margretelund, Sweden, as ultimate goal. Already today, C-Green's technology is used for sludge from pulp mills in a large-scale facility at Stora Enso in Finland.