The Energy & Raw Materials Factory: Role and Potential Contribution to the Circular Economy of the Netherlands

Abstract

Water is an abundant resource worldwide, but fresh and clean water is scarce in many areas of the world. Increases in water consumption and climate change will affect global water security even further in the near future. With increasing numbers of people living in metropolitan areas, water, energy, and materials need to be used carefully, reused and renewed. Resource scarcity is the driver behind the circular economy. The recovery of materials and energy can add significant new value streams and improve cost recovery and water quality. In this paper, we present the creation of the Energy & Raw Materials Factory (ERMF) of the Dutch Water Authorities, also known as the Resource Factory, as one of the solutions to this global challenge of water in the circular economy. Resources like cellulose, bioplastics, phosphate, alginate-like exopolymers from aerobic granular sludge (bio-ALE), and biomass can be recovered. Bio-ALE is an alginate-like polymer of sugars and proteins and can be used in agriculture and horticulture, the paper industry, medical, and construction industries. The ERMF demands significant investments but the return on investment is high both from a financial and environmental perspective, provided that markets can be realized. Experiences in the Netherlands show that the concept of the ERMF is viable and adds to the creation of a circular economy. Achieving climate neutrality and production of new and promising resources like bio-ALE are possible. The ERMF can contribute to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations on water and sanitation, once fully operational.

Keywords: Bio-ALE; Bioplastics; Circular economy; Energy recovery; Resource recovery; Wastewater treatment.

Fig. 1

The Nereda process is an aerobic granular sludge technology that purifies wastewater by controlling the growth and formation of microorganisms. The Nereda process reduces energy up to 50% and the needs for space by 70%, involves no chemicals and yields a component with similar characteristics as alginate, i.e., bio-ALE (Source: Royal HaskoningDHV, with permission)

Fig. 2

Scores of the 27 indicators of the GCF water governance performance on wastewater treatment for the city of Amsterdam (Koop et al. 2017)