The present paper deals with designing a tool to answer the following research questions:
Which bioenergy potentials occur in different plant types? Which mass and
energy flows are related to the specific potentials? Which utilisation processes for
the potentials can lead to a high energy recovery efficiency of WWTS? Preliminary
analyses with the designed tool were focused on estimating the level of electric and
thermal energy self-sufficiency of different plant configuration scenarios including
or excluding digester gas and/or sludge utilisation units. First results based on the
level of self-sufficiency and associated energy and disposal costs show that a
digester gas and sewage sludge utilisation should be considered when designing
future WWTS.