[USCC] Turning Sludge into Energy in Scotland

[David Schellinger]

Maureen,
Fuel is fuel.  Whether burning bio-based fuels or fossil fuels, greenhouse
gas emissions will still result.  Why not advocate solar, wind or nuclear
power rather than contaminating our air by burning fuels made from sewage?
The majority of sewage sludge used for land application does not pose a
significant threat of soil contamination (does not significantly increase
the presence of contaminants in soils).  I believe that negative publicity
related to a hand full of cases in which sewage sludge land application or
sewage composting operations are being targeted and multiplied to generate
fear in the public.  

What percent of the total farmed acreage in the world is "contaminated", and
by what materials?  In reality, is sewage sludge as bad as other forms of
soil amendments (inorganic fertilizers)?  I believe that you and others are
a little misguided about the true problems associated with farming and food
production in the world today.  Loss of organic matter from soils does more
to threaten the productivity of farm lands and the world food shortage than
use of sewage on farmed acreage.  Adding organic matter, even sewage sludge,
increases farm land productivity and improves the yield of food and fiber on
a global scale.

Generating energy from sewage sludge would be far less efficient than using
other fresh forms of organic matter, thus increasing the total cost of
energy production.  Even if sewage is spread on land at a very conservative
rate, the organic matter added to the soil would greatly increase
productivity of soils, thus providing a far greater benefit to humanity,
even increasing the biomass energy potential.  Think of the loss of biomass
productivity that would result from not using sewage sludge on farm land
rather than consider the limited energy that could be generated from the
sludge itself.  

Dave Schellinger
W. A. Callegari Environmental Center         

-----Original Message-----
From: compost-bounces at composter.com [mailto:compost-bounces at composter.com]
On Behalf Of Maureen Reilly
Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 6:46 PM
To: compost at compostingcouncil.org
Subject: [USCC] Turning Sludge into Energy in Scotland

U.S. COMPOSTING COUNCIL 15th ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND TRADESHOW
Wyndham Orlando Resort | Orlando, FL | January 21-24, 2007
The National forum for those involved in the development and expansion of
the composting and organics recycling industry
CONFERENCE PROGRAM, REGISTRATION FORMS, WORKSHOP AGENDAS,
EXHIBITOR INFORMATION AND SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES ARE AVAILABLE AT THE
USCC WEBSITE: www.compostingcouncil.org OR CALL THE USCC AT 631-737-4931 



Response to John  Sloan:

There is an easier, safer, efficient,  and more sustainable way in which 
Edinburgh's sewage sludge can be turned into biofuels.  Why not ship the 
sludge directly to a  waste-to-energy plant,  rather than first 
spreading it on land to grow crops that will then have to be processed 
into fuels?    Globally,  uncontaminated agricultural land is becoming 
a  precious commodity which should be preserved for growing food and 
feed crops without sludge, not for growing  crops  for fuel using sludge.

I note that the crops are being shipped to Europe for processing into this
fuel.
That means more fossil fuels burned for transportation, more air emissions
and green
house gases released. 

 You want energy from sludge ?  

You can get it directly from using the sludge as biomass fuel without
contaminating the soil.

Maureen Reilly


_______________________________________________
Compost maillist  -  Compost at composter.com


Ongoing Sponsors of the USCC Discussion list are:

Food Industry Environmental Network (FIEN), a regulatory and policy e-mail
alert service for environmental, food and agricultural industry
professionals.
Contact Jack Cooper 301/384-8287 JLC at fien.com --- www.fien.com

Renewable Carbon Management, LLC with the containerized, in-vessel NaturTech
Composting System www.composter.com rcm at composter.com

(c) Copyright 2006 United States  - All rights reserved
Opinions expressed are represent only the poster and are not necessarily the
opinion or policy of any organization.

Non-members of USCC are encouraged to join the Council through our website
at: http://www.compostingcouncil.org/membership.cfm     For discussion list
policies and information regarding subscribing, unsubscribing, digest or
other options, go to:http://mailman.cloudnet.com/mailman/listinfo/compost

For additional help in unsubscribing or to report bugs and problems, send a
message to the List Manager, Jim McNelly, at compost-owner at composter.com