Christeyns will keep 350 families warm by 2019

BELGIUM (HQ) – Together with the City of Ghent and Clean Energy Innovative Projects, Christeyns will heat up the houses of 350 families at the “Nieuwe Dokken” – a new residential area in Ghent (BE), to be finished by 2019.

The circular heat recovery system which will provide the new residential area with “own heat” will be installed on Christeyns’ main production site.

How does it work? Every house and apartment on the Nieuwe Dokken is equipped with a vacuum toilet. The wastewater and faeces are collected in tanks. Kitchen waste can be grinded into the circuit or dumped into containers. In the tanks and containers the waste ferments, which creates biogas. This biogas is used to heat up the residences, the remaining manure is destined for the city agriculture.

Not only water from the vacuum toilet will be stored, also the waste water of the kitchen, the bathroom and the dishwasher will be used to recuperate heat (waste water has an average temperature of 25 degrees).

With this system, the families of the Nieuwe Dokken provide one third of the heat for their homes. Christeyns will supply the rest of the heat, recuperating the heat of its production process that usually goes lost in the air or the sewer.

With this project, Christeyns is able to contribute to Ghent’s ambitious climate plan: being climate neutral by 2050.