Challenge

Meeting the needs from a growing city 

Aarhus Vand, Denmark, need to meet the demands and expectations for a cleaner harbour and bay area creating liveability for plants, animals and people. At the same time, Aarhus Municipality is facing an annual increase in population of 5,000 people (app. 1%), which needs to be accommodated by increasing the capacity of the wastewater treatment plants. 

Three existing WWTPs have proven to be too small to meet the future demands and the current locations do not allow the necessary expansion. Therefore, a new and bigger WWTP is planned to replace them, but with a different approach to wastewater treatment and resource harvesting. 

Idea

More than wastewater treatment

The ambition is to create the world’s most resource efficient WWTP – Aarhus ReWater. The ambition is to establish not only a wastewater treatment plant but developing the new WWTP into a future resource plant. Resources that today are classified as waste, can be used for green energy, heating, and fertilizer, and in addition to the purifying of water, the plant will also produce energy and nutrients from the wastewater to an unprecedented extent. Using state-of-the-art technology to enhance its performance, the Aarhus ReWater will set new standards both nationally and internationally.  

In the name of the new plant Aarhus ReWater the “Re” is referring to “resources”, “recycle”, “reuse” and “rethink” allowing for a broader mind-set on how to manage wastewater. 

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Solution

A ressource plant

Aarhus ReWater will be utilizing valuable resources from the wastewater to produce twice as much electricity and heat as it uses. The ambition is to have an energy neutral supply of drinking water and wastewater treatment. 

A learning plant for the future 

The ambition on making it the world’s most efficient WWTP cannot be achieved by today’s technologies and solutions. 

Technology and requirements are constantly changing. Therefore, the job is not to build a finished plant, but to build a “learning” plant that can be continually improved and will be able to meet the existing demands while still being adaptable and making the utility wiser. Thus, Aarhus ReWater will be a place for developing and testing new and optimized treatment processes. 

The Aarhus ReWater is planned to start operating from 2030. 

 

Partners

In the realisation of Aarhus ReWater, Aarhus Vand will join forces with a large number of collaboration partners. 

The turnkey contractor team for the wastewater resource recovery facility (WRRF)
Turnkey contractor: Per Aarsleff A/S. 

Process consortium: EnviDan A/S.

Subconsultants: KWR Water Research Institute, Royal HaskoningDHV Nederland B.V, and DHI.

Architectural consultant: Henning Larsen Architects A/S. 

Civil engineering consultant: Rambøll A/S.

EIA consultant:
Niras A/S. 

Legal advisor:
Bech-Bruun Advokatpartnerselskab P/S. 

Client consultant:
COWI A/S. 

Contact

Inge Halkjær Jensen,
Project Manager, ReWater, Chief Engineer overall planning,
inge.h.jensen@aarhusvand.dk 

Links

https://www.aarhusvand.com/collaboration/aarhus-rewater/ 

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