Emergent - Spreading Sewage Sludge Technology

The document addresses the issue of spreading sewage sludge on land that is either used for directly growing food or is used on range land where livestock or wild animals consume it. This practice of spreading sewage on farmland predates the modern era; however, our city sewage sludge is not your grandfather`s manure. Urban sewage now includes chemicals, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, hormones, medical waste and pathogens that fundamentally change the implications of this practice.
The need to neutralize or remove the toxicity is obvious, and new technological advances will allow us to do this effectively and ecologically.

In the first section we review the current practice and the dangers it represents to the health of humans, livestock and wild animals. We support our position with a 2010 letter written by Dr. Marilyn Cameron, the DVM Chair, Biosolids & Waste Water Caucus for Biosolids Free Nova Scotia, explaining the issues in simple terms. We also borrow heavily from the works of www.usludgefree.orfi, whose principal has done a terrific job of researching and presenting the material.
In the second section we explain the legal implications of growing food in a substance that is unquestionably toxic. For the past 16 years we have seen a growing movement to challenge this practice in the courts and we have seen verdicts that are causing a rethink of this method of dealing with our waste.

There is an alternative to land-spreading of sewage sludge, however it`s likely that governments are insisting on land-spreading and assuring the people (falsely) of its safety, because they simply don`t know of the alternative. It turns out that many international studies have shown that Pyrolysis, an alternative to land-spreading, is the single best means of dealing with sewage sludge. We give a brief synopsis of nine such university studies, from five different countries.

Lastly, we talk about a specific pyrolysis technology (we more accurately call it thermolysis). The technology is Canadian owned and managed by EWS, and although the first plants have been manufactured in Europe, the company has plans to move manufacturing to Canada. The AATS solution is the most advanced pyrolysis solution in the world, which, in turn, makes it the best solution for processing sewage biosolids.

It can be noted that processing the sewage sludge is a two-step process that first separates the solids and water. Dried and pelletized waste produced in the first step is then processed by the reactor bank in the AATS plant. The solution for drying and pelleting the waste is a BC innovation which is manufactured in Abbotsford BC. The drying process neutralizes nearly 100% of the pathogens in the waste material, making the transportation of the waste to our plant a safe and clean process. The subsequent AATS process ensures that 100% of pathogens are killed, over 97% of pharmaceuticals are eliminated, all hormones and toxins are destroyed, and heavy metals are sequestered (locked in) in the biochar manufactured by the AATS plant.