The Baotou Sludge Disposal Center is built in Baotou city, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo/Baotou news network]

With the gradual increase in sewage treatment volume and sludge production in Baotou city, sludge disposal has become an important component of sewage treatment in recent years.

The city has actively promoted the harmless treatment and resource utilization of sludge over the last few years, and has established its first harmless sludge disposal institution – the Baotou Sludge Disposal Center – in 2016.

Truckloads of sludge are transported daily into the disposal center to undergo process treatment to become fertilizer. The center adopts aerobic fermentation technology with a designed sludge processing capacity of 300 metric tons per day.

Staff members of the center monitor the harmless disposal of sludge. [Photo/Baotou news network]

A staff member at the center said, "In 2023, the center processed a total of 100,000 tons of wet sludge, and after harmless disposal, 50,000 tons of finished products were finally produced. These finished products can be used in landscaping, forestry, grasslands, ecological restoration of mines, barren hills and deserts, and saline-alkali land management."

To broaden the pathways for the harmless treatment and utilization of sludge, Baotou Recycled Water Co signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation of Northeastern University in 2023.

Since beginning their cooperation, the two parties have focused on breakthroughs in research and development as it relates to sludge stabilization and processing, resource utilization, and the reduction of sludge in sewage treatment plants.