Energy saving sewage process will slash carbon

Dutch scientists believe it will soon be possible to design wastewater treatment systems that will generate power rather than consume it. New technology could dramatically cut water companies’ carbon footprints and even turn them into net power producers.

The technology is known as anammox – short for anaerobic oxidation of ammonia – and has the potential to deliver high quality, low-nitrogen effluents with much lower need for aeration and no need for the addition of substrates such as methanol.