Treatment Centres
Soil recycling
DEC has two permitted, operational soil recycling centres in Belgium. The application for an environmental permit for a third centre is being processed. The centres are located at the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge. The centres are part of a separate public limited company GRC NV, run by DEC, but also 30% of its shares are owned by Mourik.
GRC NV, Kallo branch (Antwerp port)
The soil recycling centre in Kallo is one of the most innovative soil recycling centres of Europe. This centre has a capacity of 400,000 tonnes a year.
Four different technologies are employed:
- bioremediation
- physical/chemical soil remediation
- thermal decontamination
- immobilisation
GRC NV, Bruges branch (Zeebrugge port)
The soil decontamination centre in Bruges shares the premises with the sludge-processing centre. The storage capacity is 221,000 tonnes for the various materials, 25,000 tonnes of which is soil to be biologically remediated, 25,000 tonnes of rubble and 120,000 tonnes of TOP soil. The overall permitted capacity is 400,000 tonnes.
The techniques used at Bruges soil recycling centre are:
- Mechanical treatment: sifting out and sorting stones and other materials foreign to the soil;
- Biological remediation;
- Temporary storage of excavated soil pending physical/chemical processing, thermal decontamination or reuse as soil or construction material at the Kallo branch.
Sediment treatment
DEC has various permitted, operational sludge-processing centres in Belgium with a total capacity of over 1 million tonnes a year. The processing centres are located at strategic locations and can be quickly accessed by road and water.
Fasiver
Fasiver was originally was is known as a 'brownfield'. In a public/private partnership, the area was remediated and its purpose determined. The area is now being used temporarily as a processing centre and single-use dump for non-contaminated dredgings from the channels and inland waterways of the Ghent region. [Read more about the Fasiver project]
SRC Ruisbroek
Located along the Zeekanaal canal, the Ruisbroek processing centre is ideally situated for the processing of sludge from the regions of Brussels, Brabant and Antwerp. The centre has an operational sludge-processing capacity of 170,000 tonnes a year.
SVC Krankeloon
On an 11-hectare plot situated in the Antwerp port area on the left bank of the Schelde, DEC has a processing centre with a total operational sludge-processing capacity of 300,000 tonnes a year.
SVC Zeebrugge
This sludge-processing centre is situated in the rear port of Zeebrug and shares the site with the Bruges soil recycling centre. The centre is permitted for an overall annual processing of 400,000 tonnes. Sediment can be kept in lagoons to make it solid, or can be biologically decontaminated. The sludge-processing centre also does mechanical treatment, specifically sifting and sorting stones and materials that are foreign to the soil.
