Excursion to Vienna WWTP

On October 19, employees and former students of our department took part in an excursion to the wastewater treatment plant in Vienna, which is designed for 4 million EOs and occupies an area of 460,000 m². The excursion was organized by the expert group Sludge and Waste CzWA, and out of the total number of 22 participants, 16 were graduates from our department (4 of them are current employees).

The history of wastewater disposal in Vienna dates back to 100 AD when Roman soldiers built the first network of canals. The sewage system dealt with the discharge of wastewater into waterways until the Second World War. In December 1951, the first wastewater treatment plant was put into operation, which served until 1980, when the foundation stone of the main Vienna treatment plant was laid. This was intensified in the following decades, in 2005 a device for more effective removal of nutrients was launched here and a second stage of biological purification was built. On April 13, 2015, the foundation stone of the E_OS – Energie_Optimierung Sludge Treatment project was laid. It was launched on June 4, 2020, and since then the treatment plant has been completely energy-self-sufficient. Its operation requires approximately 64 GWh annually, which represents 1% of the electricity consumption of the whole of Vienna. Six new anaerobic digesters, each with a capacity of 12,500 m3, produce biogas, which is the source of the annual production of 78 GWh of electricity and 82 GWh of thermal energy.

We would like to thank DI Dr. Gerald Wandle.