SIMPELVELD, The Netherlands – Two projects have been opened in the Netherlands that hope to pave the way for the future of wastewater treatment.
Utility Waterschapsbedrijf Limburg has installed two wastewater treatment plants in Simpelveld and Roermond, at an investment of €10.7 million.
The concept has been brought to the market by Verdygo, a private parent company of Waterschapsbedrijf Limburg, together with international construction firm Strukton, engineering consultancy Royal HakoningDHV and wastewater construction firm Aan de Stegge.
As part of the installation at Simpelveld, modules are constructed above ground with the ability to dissemble and move components.
The idea is that operators can easily adjust to changing circumstances, such as increasing or decreasing influent loads, changing temperatures and changing water management policies such as stricter discharge regulations.
The site is also being used as a working ‘lab’ to test out new materials, with four large tanks constructed from different materials: stainless steel, wood, coated steel and concrete.
For the latter, a self-healing concrete is being used in collaboration with TU Delft (Delft Technical University).
The concrete has been mixed with calcite-precipitating bacteria, which can survive in the cement for over 200 years. When a crack appears, they start the production of limestone to fill it.
