What are the emissions from drying ETP sludge before disposal?
A thermal sludge dryer burns fuel or uses steam to drive off water, which is Scope 1. Drying cuts the weight you pay to transport and dispose of, which lowers Scope 3 waste emissions. Weigh both: fuel per tonne of water removed against tonnes no longer hauled.
What to count
- Fuel or steam for the dryer (Scope 1).
- Fans and conveyors (Scope 2).
- Transport and disposal of dried sludge (Scope 3, Category 5).
Lower-fuel options
- Solar drying beds where land allows.
- Using waste heat from a boiler or kiln exhaust.
- Better dewatering (filter press, centrifuge) before any thermal step.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills and applies IPCC 2006 factors and the CEA grid factor (0.710 kg CO2 per kWh), so you can compare Scope 1 and 2 before and after a change from the documents themselves.
Sources: 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard
Last reviewed 2026-10-22.