Biosolids: The Hidden Cost of Sewage Treatment for Mine Sites

Mining operations across Australasia use packaged sewage treatment plants to treat the sewage generated from the accommodation villages and facilities that support their operations.

All of these sewage treatment plants produce a byproduct call sludge, or biosolids, that needs to be either beneficially reused or disposed of.

Essentially this sludge is 99% water and if the site does not have a sludge management facility to handle this liquid, then the liquid sludge needs to be transported over very long distances to a receival facility, which can be very costly to the mine.

Hydroflux Epco has provided numerous mine sites across Australia and PNG with a containerised sludge management system. The system employs an Inclined Rotary Screw Press, which is a low speed mechanical dewatering machine that removes the free water from the liquid and produces a dry cake. This cake can be further composted for beneficial reuse or it can be transported offsite. Even with offsite transport the liquid volume has been reduced by 85% so there is a significant reduction in transport costs.

Being containerised the system is built offsite and is delivered as a plug and play solution which reduces site installation time. Alternatively, a larger centralised sludge management facility can be built to cater for numerous nearby sewage treatment plants.

Aerobic digestion packages are also available to compliment the QPress® dewatering system.

Contact Hydroflux Epco to further discuss how we can help with wasterwater treatment options for your mine site.