Resource Recovery from Wastewater Solids: A Global Review

A state of science (SoS) Report, developed from the technical literature, was prepared as the preliminary phase of the Global Water Research Coalition's (GWRC) future strategic research plan on energy and resource recovery from municipal wastewater sludge. The report was not intended to define future research paths, but to provide the necessary information that would allow GWRC members to define research priorities and objectives of joint project activities at a follow-up workshop. The study examined technologies for energy and resource recovery that are both commercially available, as well as in pilot or demonstration stages of development. Technical and economic data from the literature were summarized to the extent possible. A preliminary “triple bottom line” assessment was completed to identify the more environmentally sustainable technologies. A number of knowledge gaps were identified that limit the ability to completely evaluate the potential technologies in a common, coherent methodology.