15.08.2025, Germany, Bottrop, North Rhine-Westphalia - Industrial landscape in the Ruhr area, with the BETREM Emscherbrennstoffe GmbH wind turbine and the Emschergenossenschaft Bottrop sewage treatment plant on the Emscher river in the foreground, and the Essen-Karnap waste-to-energy plant (RWE Generation SE) in the background. The Emscher sewage treatment plant in Bottrop is one of the most impressive structures on the Emscher. The four digestion towers are the largest of their kind, with a height of 54 metres and a total volume of 54,000 cubic metres. The clarification basins have a total area of 58,000 square metres and purify 8,500 litres of water per second. Covering a total area of 147,000 square metres, the wastewater purification process produces 190,000 tonnes of sewage sludge annually, which is recycled to power the plant. In the final stage of wastewater treatment, over seven million cubic metres of methane-containing sewage gas are extracted from the energy-rich sewage sludge. 00X250815D003CAROEX.JPG [MODEL RELEASE: NO, PROPERTY RELEASE: NO (c) caro images / Oberhaeuser, http://www.caro-images.com, [email protected] - In case of using the picture for any purpose, please contact the agency - the picture is subject to royalty!]