THERMO-SYSTEM Industrie- & Trocknungstechnik GmbH

THERMO-SYSTEM Industrie- & Trocknungstechnik GmbH, based in Esslingen, Germany, is a technology pioneer and market leader in solar and solar-thermal sludge drying with over 25 years of experience and more than 200 plants realized across a total drying area exceeding 500,000 square meters. The company’s core concept uses transparent drying halls where solar energy extracts water from sludge, enhanced by sophisticated ventilation technology and fully automated turning machines. THERMO-SYSTEM offers three drying concepts: SolarBatch for high-flexibility batch processing, SolarFlow for continuous operation with optional full automation and cross-direction sludge transport, and StorageDryer for semi-continuous processing suited to smaller plants. Three proprietary turning machines implement these concepts: the Electric Mole, a fully automatic stainless steel robot that moves freely through the drying hall and has been proven in over 20 years of operation, now upgraded with LiDAR 3D laser scanning; the SludgeManager, a lightweight bridge-type unit traveling on wall tops without rails for hall widths of 10–20 meters, featuring AHC Automatic Height Control for ground unevenness and fill-level detection; and the SludgeTiller, a rotating-drum device for halls up to 12.2 meters wide with integrated sludge height measurement, available in galvanized or stainless steel, container-optimized for easy freight and installation. Plant sizes range from 200 square meters to over 40,000 square meters. The world’s largest solar-thermal drying plant at Bottrop, Germany processes 170,000 tonnes per year with 40 Electric Moles across 43,000 square meters. Other reference projects include a 75,000 tonne-per-year plant in Marrakesh, Morocco.