Vienna: City of Innovation Tour

Guided Bus Tour “Modern Vienna” with a Focus on Environmental Facilities

On this guided tour you will have the opportunity to visit Vienna’s main sewage treatment plant, which is run by ebswien. The project Energie-Optimierung Schlammbehandlung (E_OS) aims to establish the best possible exploitation of the energy contained in clearing sludge. The sludge that emerges as ‘waste product’ during the treatment of waste water is thickened and heated to 38 degrees Celsius. It is then pumped into a total of six septic tanks, each of which is 35 meters high. Sewage gas develops in these air tight containers – altogether 75,000 cubic metres. Two thirds of this gas is energy-rich methane. Co-generation plants turn the sewage gas into electricity and heat. The E_OS project reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 40,000 tons per year. We´ll also visit the Rautenweg landfill, which is the only landfill in Vienna and Austria‘s largest landfill. At Rautenweg, we produce heat and electricity from landfill gas and solar energy. Power production from landfill gas, as well as photovoltaics and local heat generation save approx. 2,200 tonnes of CO2 annually. The methane resulting from decomposition processes in the landfill generates electricity for approx. 1,000 households – though this number is decreasing rapidly, as no untreated residual waste has been landfilled since 2009.