Doubling of capacity at the Jebel Ali Sewage Treatment plant in Dubai, UAE, offers domestic cement producers the potential to use excess sludge from the process as an alternative fuel source. The move would not only allow the cement industry to scale down reliance on traditional fuels and, therefore, reduce GHG emissions but also tackle the problem of how to safely dispose of sewage sludge in an eco-friendly manner. By Tariq Majid Khan Niazi, Jebel Ali Sewage Treatment plant, UAE.
The Jebel Ali Sewage Treatment Plant, situated close to Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport, has been established to treat wastewater from the city’s rapidly-developing new housing and industrial areas. The first two phases of the build were completed in 2009 to treat 300,000m3 of sewage water, but plans have been put in place by Hussain Nasser Lootah, director general of Dubai Municipality, and Abdul Aziz Najam, director of Dubai’s Sewage Treatment department, to establish another plant of equal size, parallel to the existing facility.
