On Friday 22 April, Arctik presented the POWERSTEP project before an audience of 60 water experts coming from the wastewater industry and public authorities. The presentation, which took place at the Ecocir symposium – The Circular Economy in the Water Sector, provided an opportunity to explain how POWERSTEP aims at achieving the concept of energy-positive wastewater treatment plant.

The conference organiser Ecocir, a consortium of auditing companies, had invited representatives from public and private organisations to present concepts and technologies used in the wastewater treatment operations in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium. While the first day focused on general sanitation issues for the region, the second day was oriented towards the wastewater sector and featured presentations about its current state of play and future trends.

Arctik opened its presentation by addressing the circular economy principle applied to the wastewater sector and highlighted the energy consumption trends faced by the industry and municipalities. Based on these figures, the Arctik consultant invited the audience to reflect on the energy potential of wastewater and underlined that the sector can play its part in the European Union’s energy transition. Arctik outlined that today plants have an annual energy potential of 87,500 GWh - the equivalent to 12 large power stations of 1 GWh – but consume 1% of Europe’s total energy demand; the amount of 2 large power stations.

Arctik drew upon the 6 real-scale demonstration sites of the POWERSTEP project and pointed out what the wastewater sector could look like in a mid-term perspective. The communication partner briefly explained the technologies and the four concepts of carbon extraction, nitrogen removal, biogas valorisation and nitrogen side-stream treatment at stake in the 6 case studies; and how they can contribute to positioning wastewater treatment plants as renewable energy suppliers.

Arctik concluded its presentation by inviting the participants to visit the project website and contact the project partners, and to join the POWERSTEP’s commitment towards a circular and low-carbon economy.