On Thursday 19th January, a seminar entitled “Incineration of municipal sludge – challenges and opportunities” held by Prof. Tine Seljak, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), will take place in Castigliano room (Building 5).

Abstract:

With improvements in communal infrastructure and efficient wastewater collection and treatment, wastewater sludge quantities increased substantially in the recent decades. Being treated as undesired waste at first, the introduction of circular thinking shed a light on its role as a useful side-stream and a valuable source of secondary raw materials. Several processes are being developed for safe use of sludge in agriculture, however many types are still facing a challenge of contamination and heterogeneity which require robust treatment approaches.

With incineration being the most wide-spread practice, high sludge moisture and inorganic content require specific approaches to maximize its environmental acceptability and yield a suitable residue, while possibly playing a role of bioenergy source. The seminar will focus on the balance between these roles by exposing the challenges related to thermal treatment, associated technical developments and impact of upcoming legislative improvements, which together will draft the philosophy for future design of sludge incineration systems.

Speaker’s bio:

Tine Seljak is an assistant professor at University of Ljubljana, Faculty of mechanical engineering. His research work is focused primarily on thermo-chemical conversion processes including combustion, incineration and gasification together with their integration in energy systems and in the concept of circular economy.  He is co-leading Sustainable energy pillar within Strategic research and innovation partnership for Circular economy in Slovenia and holding lectures on Advanced combustion concepts and Energy in circular economy at University of Ljubljana master programmes.