DC Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water)
Washington, DC
The DC Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water) is implementing new sludge and biosolids
processing facilites at the 1.4 million cubic meters/day (370 million gallons per day [mgd]) Blue
Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant (AWTP) in Washington D.C. The program
involves thermal hydrolysis (TH) followed by anaerobic digsetion and includes a major
cogeneration facility to provide electric power for the treatment plant and steam for the TH
process.
Decision and development criteria for DC Water’s biosolids program have evolved over recent
years and now include a broad range of factors with strong emphasis on sustainability criteria. A
major link between high-performance digestion and renewable energy production has been
forged. Key criteria for decision-making now include renewable power and energy production,
climate change issues, biosolids product quality, digestion performance, and site efficiency, as
well as capital constraints and economics.
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Posted: May 20th, 2011 | Filed under: 100K-500K, Waste Water Treatment | Tags: Biosolids Minimization, Economic Benefits, Energy Management, Improved Digestion Performance, Plant Sustainability, Reduced Carbon Footprint, Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions | No Comments »
Strass WWTP
Innsbruck, Austria (Europe)
Energy management concepts that include bio-energy and energy recovery from wastewater
digestion as a source of renewable energy promotes sustainability and is an important first
step towards energy independence for wastewater utilities. Energy independence can be
achieved through energy conservation, creating more efficient systems, and development of
renewable energy including bio-energy production, solar, geothermal and wind power1.
Therefore a movement toward maximizing utilization of biologically derived energy coupled
with other renewable energy sources has recently become of more interest to wastewater
facility management. Energy recovery from innovative and recent technical advances in
digestion and bio-solids provides an opportunity for wastewater utilities to invest in energy
management strategies to optimize the recovery of energy from various digestion processes,
thermal drying and solids reduction and stabilization strategies to reduce the cost of
treatment. This paper proposes a benchmark of 7.0 Kw-h/month/Kg TSS (15.4 Kwh/
month/lb TSS) for maximum electrical production efficiency for biogas fueled facilities.
Those facilities that use biogas as a fuel source and approach the upper end of this energy
efficiency benchmark should be close to neutral electricity consumption.
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Posted: May 20th, 2011 | Filed under: 100K-500K, Waste Water Treatment | Tags: Bio-Energy, Electrical Energy Efficiency, Energy Management, Environmental Impact, Green Infrastructure, Increased Biogas, Plant Sustainability, Reduced Carbon Footprint, Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Renewable Energy | No Comments »
Northern California Utility
Northern California
Anaerobic digestion is one of the tools private and public entities are considering to use or
already using to manage and obtain renewable energy with various feedstocks. Performance
potential of anaerobic digestion is dependent on the design and operation, however there are
ways to improve and make anaerobic technologies work for our benefit. This paper covers the
methodologies and technologies available in US and Europe, and focus on a California Utility’s
efforts as an example of a multi-pronged approach to renewable energy recovery. Additives that
have undergone a relatively thorough scientific evaluation as documented in peer-reviewed
publications and research reports were then shortlisted to ascertain the technical and economic
feasibility assessment at two host sites representing a municipal sewage sludge digestion facility
and a dairy manure digestion facility. DSM/Biopract products that consist of enzymes and
macro- and micro-nutrients were selected for this feasibility assessment. The feasibility
assessment results showed potential for enhanced biogas production by using additives
depending on the digester feed. Where it is possible to add other feedstocks such as food waste,
green waste or high-energy crops to further enhance biogas production, a greater benefit and
larger energy recovery potential could be realized from additive use.
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Posted: May 20th, 2011 | Filed under: 100K-500K, 500K-1M, Waste Water Treatment, Water Treatment | Tags: Bio-Energy, Cost Savings, Energy Management, Energy Savings, Enhanced Biogas Production, Environmental Impact, Green Infrastructure, Plant Sustainability, Reduced Carbon Footprint, Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Renewable Energy | No Comments »
Population growth and improving standards of living, coupled with dramatically increased urbanization, are placing increased pressures on available water resources, necessitating new approaches to urban water management. The tradition linear “take, make, waste” approach to managing water is increasingly proving to be unsustainable as it is leading to water stress (insufficient water supplies), unsustainable resource (energy and chemicals) consumption, the dispersion of nutrients into the aquatic environment (especially phosphorus), and financially unstable utilities. Different approaches are needed to achieve economic, environmental, and social sustainability. Fortunately a toolkit consisting of stormwater management/rainwater harvesting, water conservation, water reclamation and reuse, energy management, nutrient recovery, and source separation is available to allow more closed loop urban water and resource management systems to be developed and implemented. Water conservations along with water reclamation and reuse (multiple uses) are becoming commonplace in numerous water-short locations. Decentralization, enabled by new, high performance treatment technologies and distributed stormwater management/rainwater harvesting, is furthering this transition. Likewise, traditional approaches to residuals management are evolving as higher levels of energy recovery are desired and nutrient recovery and reuse is to be enhanced. A variety of factors affect selection of the optimum approach for a particular urban area, including local hydrology, available water supplies, water demands, local energy and nutrient management situations, existing infrastructure, and utility governance structure. A proper approach to economic analysis is critical to determine the most sustainable solutions. Stove piping within the urban water and resource management profession must be eliminated. Adoption of these new approaches to urban water and resource management can lead to more sustainable solutions, defined as financially stable, using locally sustainable water supplies, energy neutral, providing responsible nutrient management, and with access to clean water and appropriate sanitation for all. Source: WEFTEC 2008 Proceedings
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Posted: August 27th, 2010 | Filed under: Waste Water Treatment, Water Treatment | Tags: Energy Management, Nutrient Recovery, Rainwater Harvesting, Source Separation, Stormwater Management, Sustainability, Water Reclamation and Reuse | No Comments »
Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority
Camden, NJ
The twin problems of steadily rising energy costs and global warming have made the issue of energy conservation a very high priority for both regulatory agencies and water and wastewater utilities. More and more utilities are realizing that a systematic approach for addressing their energy challenges is the best way to ensure that energy issues are continually addressed on an ongoing basis. Energy management is also at the heart of efforts across the entire sector to ensure that utility operations are sustainable in the future. Working closely with a number of utilities and the Water Environment Federation, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is proactively addressing this issue and has developed an energy management guide entitled Ensuring a Sustainable Future: An Energy Management Guidebook for Wastewater and Water Utilities that provides a detailed, step by step, management systems approach to reducing energy consumption and energy cost. This paper will describe the USEPA’s new Energy Management guidebook and discuss how water and wastewater utilities can use this guidebook to reduce their energy costs. In addition, the paper will also include a case study example describing how the Camden County (NJ) Municipal Utilities Authority (CCMUA) used an Environmental Management System, akin to the Plan-Do-Check-Act systematic approach set forth in the USEPA’s Energy management guidebook to realize significant reductions in energy consumption at its wastewater treatment plant, and corresponding cost savings for its ratepayers.
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Posted: July 23rd, 2010 | Filed under: 500K-1M, Sanitary Sewer, Stormwater, Waste Water Treatment | Tags: Energy Management, Environmental Impact, Increased Cost Savings For Customers, Increased Sustainability, Reduced Energy Costs | No Comments »