Innovative technology that will enable municipal sewage sludge to be turned into raw materials that can be used by plastics and paper industries around the world has been developed by Applied Cleantech (ACT, Jerusalem / Israel; www.appliedcleantech.com). This revolutionary way of thought, along with scientific research, led to the technology's development, which enables sewage sludge to be used as a base for raw materials that are later sold back to industry. The technology is applied by way of a compact, automatic and efficient facility that recycles solids from raw sewage and turns them into consumer products through a continuous process: “SRS - Sewage Recycling System“. At the end of the process, sewage solids are converted into high quality, clean and environmentally friendly raw materials, ACT said.

Aside from the raw materials created at the end of the process, the new SRS plants assist in reducing regional sewage purification plant loads by about 35%. According to the company, as a result, purification plants enjoy reduced energy consumption and reduced operational and maintenance costs in their water cleaning process. As well as these energy reductions and production of raw materials, SRS reduces greenhouse gases, providing an environmental contribution in addition to its other benefits.

According to Dr Refael Aharon, CEO and founder of Applied Cleantech: "The revolution is in regarding these solids not as waste that must be hidden, consumed by bacteria, or buried, but as a resource and base for raw materials that is sold back to the industry. For the first time ever, this technology is able to recycle solids in wastewater and turn them into raw materials.”

ACT's novel technologies extract, rather than digest, bio-solids from raw sewage, thus reducing sludge formation by up to 50%. The proprietary bio-solids recycling process produces a variety of products under the brand name “Recyllose“. These include feedstock for bio-plastics production and pulp products for the paper industry.

Founded in 2007, ACT has completed a number of successful demonstration installations in municipal waste water treatment plants serving populations of 10,000-20,000, both in the US and Israel. It currently operates and installs commercial SRS units in Israeli sites through its local licensee and is planning to start installing units in the EU in 2013. The company, reportedly, is in advanced negotiations with municipalities and investors in Europe and the United States.