Wastewater produced by China's growing population looks set to create one of the world's largest markets for sludge management processes in years to come - if the government and utilities can create the right environment for investment. Chinese municipal sludge production reached 47.75 million tonnes in 2019, up 25% from 2015. Less than 35% of the sludge generated is treated with advanced solutions like drying, thermal reduction, anaerobic digestion, and sludge-to-biofu-els conversion, with the rest of the sludge being dumped in landfill, sent for land spreading, or in some cases disposed into the environment without any further treatment, after being dehydrated to a primary water content level of around 80%. Without clear mandatory policies outlining treatment routes for sewage sludge (see figure, right), the sludge handling market in China has progressed slowly over the past three decades. Where sludge is treated, the country has largely relied on simple methods like thickening and dewa-tering, before shipping the dehydrated sludge to landfills. This started to change when the central government unveiled a RMB34.7 billion ($5.42 billion) investment goal for sludge treatment facilities in the 12th Five-Year Plan it issued in April 2012. Over 100 advanced sludge projects have now emerged in the market in the past ten years, mostly in wealthier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and in areas along the Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone.
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