RISUD JRF First Annual Progress Research Salon: An Integrated and Circular Approach to Sustainable Urban Sewage Sludge Management

Rapid urbanisation generates massive volumes of sewage sludge. In high-density megacities like Hong Kong, conventional sludge treatment is costly, energy-intensive, and carbon-emitting, posing severe land and environmental challenges.

In this research salon, Prof. LIU will present the first annual progress of his project, which recovers valuable resources from wastewater and converts them into functional chemicals for on-site sludge management. This novel approach reduces land requirements by over 30% while boosting biogas production by 20–30% and upgrading it to town gas.

Ultimately, this paradigm can decarbonise up to 6.2 million tonnes of CO₂ annually in the Greater Bay Area, transforming wastewater treatment into an energy-positive, carbon-neutral system.

Biography

Prof. LIU Tao

Assistant Professor,
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), PolyU