Freeze Dewatering Shows Strong Potential for Sustainable Sediment Remediation in Sweden
- Andreas Kostenniemi
- 12 minutes ago
- 1 min read
Freeze Dewatering Shows Strong Potential for Sustainable Sediment
The new report "Behovsanalys och översikt över potentiellt nya åtgärdsmetoder för förorenade sediment" (Structor Norr & SGU, 2025) highlights freeze dewatering as a promising and efficient method for managing contaminated sediments. The method has demonstrated the ability to achieve a very high dry solids content of 81–82 percent, resulting in significant volume reduction and creating opportunities for more cost effective and environmentally sound handling of dredged materials.
Freeze dewatering involves freezing and subsequently thawing the sediments, which allows the separation of water that is otherwise difficult to remove using traditional techniques. The high dry solids content achieved indicates that even sediments with high organic content could be thermally treated, offering new possibilities for efficient and sustainable material management. The process proved to be energy efficient, as much of the heat generated during the freezing stage could be recovered and reused in subsequent steps, contributing to a more sustainable and resource effective operation.
According to the report, freeze dewatering is straightforward to scale up or down depending on project requirements and requires relatively little space compared to many other methods. The technique is considered particularly suitable for fiber rich and mercury contaminated sediments, where traditional dewatering methods often show limited effectiveness. In conclusion, freeze dewatering is emphasized as a highly promising technology with great potential to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of future sediment remediation projects in Sweden.
Read the full report
