We are happy to announce that as first EU member state Italy released a standard to pave the way to real circular economy in the waste water sector. Standard UNI 11853:2022 defines certain quality criterial for Hydrothermal Carbonization of sewage sludge which allow local authorities to release HTC coal (“Hydrochar”) from the waste regulation to allow to freely trade it as a product.
This new standard aims to promote the trade of high quality Hydrochar with the goal of expanding its use in industrial applications as a sustainable alternative to fossil coal. The aim is to reduce the environmental footprint of industries that use fossile coal for their production processes and, by doing so, simultaneously promote the circularity of products made from residues and, more generally, the creation of a value chain that underpins the effective transition from the linear to the circular economy.