The disposal and utilization of Sludge resulting from the treatment of waste water represents an increasing challenge all over the world. The total amount of sludge produced in the EU member states is estimated to have increased from 6.6 million tons of dry matter in 1992 to 9.4 million tons in 2005, and will continue to rise over the next decade. How the Irish government will manage the national increase in sludge production is an environmental concern.
Sewage sludge is a by-product of the Waste Water Treatment Process. During the process liquids and solids are separated. The liquids are discharged to water basins and the solids are treated prior to removal to landfill or beneficially used, on land or involved in another recycling initiative.
The sludge contains many different components, both valuable resources such as organic matter and nutrients as well as problematic compounds such as heavy metals, pathogens and toxic organic substances.
The Urban Waste Water Directive states, sludge arising from waste water treatment shall be re-used whenever appropriate (Urban Waste Water Directive 91/271/EEC).

For efficient sludge management in Ireland, a short scale study investigating existing and emerging technologies for the treatment and remediation of sludge prior to its reuse, should be complied and it is proposed that this study will address this.
The purpose of this report is to investigate present and future technologies for the treatment of sewage sludge. It is important when planning for waste water and sewage sludge treatment and disposal facilities, to achieve a balance between meeting future needs of the wider community, and minimizing any unacceptable impact on the environment.

Traditional methods for sludge treatment are examined, and future technologies and global initiatives reviewed. Technologies such as the use of supercritical fluids and bioremediation, and long term storage are discussed.

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It is important for the EPA and the Environmental Research Community to know that the data and information products we distribute are useful to the user community we support. One way of doing this is by tracking the use of data and information in publications. Parts of or all of the datasets, data, or digital information products available here can be freely downloaded for further use in scientific applications under the condition that the source will be properly quoted in published papers, journals, websites, presentations, books, etc. Whenever possible the EPA strongly urge you to cite the use of these data, information, and web resources in the reference section of your publications. For convenience an automatically generated citation is available below which can be used immediately for citation purposes.

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Suggested Citation Information

The information supplied in the table below should be provided with all citations to this electronic resource. You are requested to format each of the fields below as required by the specific bibliographical style you are using.

An example of this citation in proper usage:

Treacy, J.   "Present and Future Technology for the Treatment of Sewage Sludge in Ireland". Associated datasets and digitial information objects connected to this resource are available at: Secure Archive For Environmental Research Data (SAFER) managed by Environmental Protection Agency Ireland https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/resource?id=c092a473-0ba9-102d-8e25-e9973852f3cf (Last Accessed: 2025-02-17)

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SAFER-Data Display URL	https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/iso19115/display?isoID=129
Resource Keywords	Sewage Sludge Waste Management Plan Technologies Treatment
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Code	2005-WRM-EPA
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Theme	Waste and Resource Management
Resource Availability:	Public-Open
Limitations on the use of this Resource	Attachments (if any) connected to this resource can be used in journal article or other means of publication provided the original authors are informed of this usage and an appropriate acknowledgement or citation is included within the published article. The EPA advise that this acknowledgement should take one of the following forms dependent upon how heavily the published work relates to the downloaded report: * Co-Authorship(s) for the original author(s)* Written acknowledgement within the body of the article* Written acknowledgement by means of the inclusion of a bibliography entry which clearly cites the original authors. The EPA as a/the primary funder of the research should be acknowledged.
Number of Attached Files (Publicly and Openly Available for Download):	2
Project Start Date	Wednesday 3rd January 2007 (03-01-2007)
Earliest Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Wednesday 3rd January 2007 (03-01-2007)
Most Recent Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Monday 30th July 2007 (30-07-2007)
Published on SAFER	Friday 16th October 2009 (16-10-2009)
Date of Last Edit	Wednesday 28th October 2009 at 12:36:52 (28-10-2009)
Datasets or Files Updated On	Monday 19th October 2009 at 09:13:54 (19-10-2009)

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Description of Geographical Characteristics of This Project or Dataset
This was a desk study that looked at the present and Future Technology for the treatment of Sewage Sludge in Ireland. There was no data collected out in the field. The study took an all Ireland approach.

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In this section some supplementary information about this resource is outlined. Lineage information helps us to understand why this project was carried out, what policy or research requirements did it fulfil, etc. Lineage is important in understanding the rationale behind the carrying out of a project or the collection of a specific dataset etc. Links to web sites, applications, papers, etc are outlined to provide you with additional information or supplementary reading about the project or dataset

Any links supplied by the resource owner are stored such that they will open in a new window. Following such a link may lead to a 3rd party website over which EPA has no control in regards to contents or suitability.

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The following is a list of projects, datasets, and resources on SAFER-Data from which users downloaded attachments from soon after downloading attachments from this resource Present and Future Technology for the Treatment of Sewage Sludge in Ireland. You can view the full description for projects, datasets, and resources by using the links supplied.

• On-site wastewater treatment: investigation of rapid percolating subsoils, reed beds and effluent distribution View Full Metadata Description
• Energy Efficiency Improvement of Waste Water Treatment Processes Using Process Integration Techniques View Full Metadata Description
• Critical Analysis of the Potential of Mechanical Biological Treatment for Irish waste Management View Full Metadata Description
• Anaerobic Digestion: Decision Support Software View Full Metadata Description
• EPA Ireland Archive of Nitrogen Oxides Monitoring Data View Full Metadata Description

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