Gimhae, Korea

Reducing Sludge Management Costs with New Technology

With increasing amounts of waste and the elimination of ocean dumping, conventional waste disposal digestor technologies have proven to be expensive and technologically difficult to implement. In 2019, only 1.5% of wastewater treatment centers larger than 500 m3/d in Korea included anaerobic digesters. Since digester projects cannot be deployed quickly and cheaply enough to keep up with rising disposal costs, alternative sludge reduction processes are being sought by water treatment plants.

One such plant, an industrial slaughterhouse wastewater treatment plant in Gimhae, South Korea addressed this issue by installing Tomorrow Water’s full-scale Draco™ Thermal Hydrolysis Process (THP) system coupled with a dewatering press. The Draco THP™ system uses the novel thermal hydrolysis process to compact dewatered waste, reducing sludge volumes and allowing for easier and more efficient handling.

Sludge volume reduction rate (%) by THP and the final filter press

Comparison of Operating Costs with and without THP (+dewatering) at Gimhae plant

Since its operation, the application of Draco THP™ at Gimhae has effectively dealt with sludge management while achieving:

• 80% reduction of sludge volumes

• 68% reduction in disposal costs

• 4-6 year simple payback

With the implementation of Tomorrow Water’s Draco THP™, Gimhae was able to reduce sludge volumes and disposal challenges while saving monetary, energy and spatial resources without conventional high cost anaerobic digesters.