<p>Thermal treatment of sewage sludge offers a viable route for energy recovery; however, its high moisture content limits incineration performance and increases auxiliary fuel demand. In this study, a steady-state Aspen Plus model integrating sludge drying, fluidized bed incineration, and power generation was developed using experimentally characterized sewage sludge from the Khouribga wastewater treatment plant (Morocco). Two process configurations were evaluated to analyze the impact of energy integration on system performance. In scenario 1, natural gas was continuously used for drying, while the energy released during sludge incineration was fully directed to power generation. In scenario 2, natural gas was considered only for startup, and internal heat integration was implemented by reusing incinerator exhaust gases for drying and power generation, along with preheating of combustion and dilution air. For a feed of 1&#xa0;t&#xa0;h⁻¹ of wet sludge, scenario 1 produced a net power output of 250&#xa0;kW, with CO₂ emissions of 529&#xa0;kg per ton of wet sludge and residual waste heat of 1.71&#xa0;MW. Under the modeled steady-state conditions, scenario 2 reduced CO₂ emissions to 432.06&#xa0;kg per ton of wet sludge (− 18.34%) and residual waste heat to 715.8&#xa0;kW (− 58.14%), while maintaining a net power output of 206 kW. A slight increase in NO_<i>x</i> emissions was observed in the integrated configuration, indicating the need for combustion optimization. The results demonstrate that internal heat integration can improve energy utilization and reduce steady-state fossil fuel demand in sewage sludge thermal treatment systems. However, the analysis is limited to steady-state process simulation and does not account for transient startup fuel consumption, flue gas-cleaning energy penalties, or full techno-economic and social dimensions. The findings should therefore be interpreted as a process-level comparison of alternative energy integration strategies.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>