by Ken Pantuck
Dedication plaque for DC Water’s Bailey Bioenergy Facility
Early last month, DC Water dedicated a new Combined Heat and Power Facility at its Blue Plains Treatment Plant. This new $470 million facility captures and converts methane gas in sewage into enough electricity to meet one-third of the plant’s energy needs, and produces high quality biosolids that can be used in gardens and agriculture.
While producing energy and recovering nutrients and other by-products is a growing trend in wastewater technology and treatment today, this bioenergy facility is unique because it includes a state-of-the-art process called thermal hydrolysis, a two-stage process which first uses high heat and pressure to “pressure cook” the dewatered or concentrated sludge before passing it into the digesters. Then, rapid decompression explodes the cell membrane of the organic matter to generate
methane at a faster rate. This means DC Water could construct smaller digesters, saving the authority hundreds of millions in capital costs.
DC Water’s facility marks the first full-scale use of thermal hydrolysis in a municipal wastewater treatment plant in the United States. DC Water conducted more than a decade of research before bringing this facility online. As a result of the success of this project, many other American cities are considering this process.
The dedication of this facility was an especially poignant moment for me and the many EPA staff who have worked with Blue Plains over the years. That day, the facility was named after Walter F. Bailey, who retired last month after serving the organization for 43 years. Mr. Bailey was the Assistant General Manager for Wastewater Treatment, an innovator, a prolific author of many technical papers and journal articles, and a long-time friend.
Check out EPA’s Water Innovation and Technology website for even more examples of innovative technologies in the water and wastewater sector. If you’re looking for more on DC Water’s biosolids program, or are interested in using the biosolids as a soil amendment, check out this fact sheet.
About the Author: Ken Pantuck is the team leader for the EPA’s Mid-Atlantic Innovative Technologies Team.
from The EPA Blog http://ift.tt/1PpyXIs
by Ken Pantuck
Dedication plaque for DC Water’s Bailey Bioenergy Facility
Early last month, DC Water dedicated a new Combined Heat and Power Facility at its Blue Plains Treatment Plant. This new $470 million facility captures and converts methane gas in sewage into enough electricity to meet one-third of the plant’s energy needs, and produces high quality biosolids that can be used in gardens and agriculture.
While producing energy and recovering nutrients and other by-products is a growing trend in wastewater technology and treatment today, this bioenergy facility is unique because it includes a state-of-the-art process called thermal hydrolysis, a two-stage process which first uses high heat and pressure to “pressure cook” the dewatered or concentrated sludge before passing it into the digesters. Then, rapid decompression explodes the cell membrane of the organic matter to generate
methane at a faster rate. This means DC Water could construct smaller digesters, saving the authority hundreds of millions in capital costs.
DC Water’s facility marks the first full-scale use of thermal hydrolysis in a municipal wastewater treatment plant in the United States. DC Water conducted more than a decade of research before bringing this facility online. As a result of the success of this project, many other American cities are considering this process.
The dedication of this facility was an especially poignant moment for me and the many EPA staff who have worked with Blue Plains over the years. That day, the facility was named after Walter F. Bailey, who retired last month after serving the organization for 43 years. Mr. Bailey was the Assistant General Manager for Wastewater Treatment, an innovator, a prolific author of many technical papers and journal articles, and a long-time friend.
Check out EPA’s Water Innovation and Technology website for even more examples of innovative technologies in the water and wastewater sector. If you’re looking for more on DC Water’s biosolids program, or are interested in using the biosolids as a soil amendment, check out this fact sheet.
About the Author: Ken Pantuck is the team leader for the EPA’s Mid-Atlantic Innovative Technologies Team.
from The EPA Blog http://ift.tt/1PpyXIs
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