Search
Member Login
Biosolids SPOTLIGHT

Biosolids SPOTLIGHT: A focus on the people of biosolids who work in our region

July 2024 - MABA Biosolids Spotlight 

Provided to MABA members by Bill Toffey, Effluential Synergies, LLC 

SPOTLIGHT on Thermal Processes in the MABA Region 

We are close, really very close!  There is no risk of jinxing any of the four projects by predicting that, within 24 months of this SPOTLIGHT, the MABA region will have four operating thermal systems for depolymerizing biosolids.  These are the four: Bioforcetech, Earthcare Bethel, Ecoremedy and CHAR Technologies. Not among these four are those “in the pipeline” projects introduced in other regions (374Water, Genifuel, KORE Infrastructure, Heartland HelioStorm). Also not listed are other projects in the MABA region that are either not truly “off-the-ground” (Saratoga Biochar Solutions) or that are awaiting some big actions to revive them (Aries Clean Technologies and Biowaste Pyrolysis Solutions).  But having four on track is amazing, as they are near MABA members, and each holds the possibility of becoming reference facility operations. This is a breakthrough in biosolids technologies. 
 
A special aspect of the four projects in the Mid-Atlantic region is how they allow for useful comparisons. Two are municipal projects (Ephrata and DTMA); two are private ventures (CHAR Technologies and Earthcare Bethel).  Pyrolysis and gasification are both represented. The residuals range in quality from biochar to ash.  A common element is the processes are autogenous, meaning sustained without outside fuel sources. Expected feedstocks range from raw cake to digested cake to digested dried pellets. One technology (CHAR) proposes a mobile unit suited for use by multiple small treatment plants, a second technology (Bioforcetech) is suited for fixed installation at a small plant, a third (Ecoremedy) for installation at a medium size plant, and the largest of the bunch (EarthCare Bethel) is a standalone plant accepting sources of organic residuals from multiple classes of industrial and municipal plants.  Yes, should all of these prove successful, the Mid-Atlantic region will be blessed by an array of options that will be references for the entire U.S., and perhaps beyond. 
 
Earthcare Bethel
Earthcare’s gasification facility in Bethel, Pennsylvania, is the furthest along, as it is getting ready for its first deliveries of biosolids cake the last week of July 2024. Earthcare Bethel, LLC (a venture of Earthcare LLC, Earthcare Solutions LLC and BLDPC Ventures LLC) consists of two gasification units, both sized for 40 dry tons of feed daily, one primarily gasifying an agricultural residual and a second, newer unit committed to biosolids cake.  While connecting to the electric utility delayed start-up, the facility has been able to go through commissioning of both units. Leading the development effort is Sean Sweeney, an engineer and Senior Vice President at Barton Loguidice DPC and now Earthcare Solution’s Executive Vice President. But the vision for this facility is that of company founder Mike McGolden, who has delivered over the past 20+ years on ten thermal facilities in the U.S. and abroad. Earthcare gasifiers accept a variety of organic waste feedstocks, though the Bethel facility is the first with a unit devoted to biosolids.  The “secret sauce” for the Bethel facility is the availability nearby of high carbon poultry litter that, when gasified alone or in combination with biosolids, produces a biochar conforming to standards of the International Biochar Initiative for use as a soil amendment and for use in site remediation, both in collaboration with its allied enterprises, EcoChar LLC and EcoChar Environmental Solutions, LLC.

spotlight 1

Earthcare Bethel has completed installation of its drying and gasification facility in Bethel, PA, for producing biochars from biosolids and agricultural residuals, and shipments of biosolids will begin before the end of July 2024.

Earthcare Bethel will be operated as a merchant facility, accepting deliveries from multiple haulers bringing in dewatered biosolids of varying treatment levels, including raw sludges. Sweeney is looking for biosolids cake that is between 18% to 25% in solids content. Cake will be delivered to a receiving building where it is loaded into a hopper for blending with dried agricultural litter to achieve an optimum moisture and energy content for feed to a triple pass drum dryer.  The discharge goes through a cyclone separator, with the solids directed to the gasifier. The syngas coming off the gasifier is fuel for both the gasifier itself and for the dryer, and the system is operated to allow significant carbon to be fixed in the char rather than completely oxidized.  The gasifiers will eventually run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  The system includes blending with additives and activating the char so that it is tailored to meet customer requirements. The state Solid Waste facility permit will be tied to production for commercial biochar outlets. During start up, Earthcare will be collecting samples of the feedstock and the final product to demonstrate product conformance to state biosolid standards and IDI biochar standards.  While the system is not designed with PFAS or microplastics in mind, Earthcare believes its system will be shown to mitigate both.
 
Ephrata Borough Authority and Bioforcetech
Ephrata Borough Authority’s installation of the Bioforcetech facility is close behind EarthCare.  Its two Centrisys centrifuges and four proprietary dryer units, called BioDryers (slowly rotating drums that are aerated and heated), are already in operation, and the pyrolysis unit is installed and is in the commissioning stage. The origin of this project was a response to an RFP by Ephrata to design a Class A biosolids stabilization facility at its Treatment Plant #1, a plant with a current flow of 2 MGD and designed for 3.8 MGD, to replace a system that had no stabilization process.  The Borough’s original concept was a temperature-phased anaerobic digester system with centrifuge dewatering, producing a Class A cake that could be used by local farmers. The engineering firm of GHD assembled an alternative proposal, subsequently accepted by the Authority, which followed the success of the Bioforcetech pyrolysis process at Silicon Valley Clean Water in Redwood City, California, which boasted useful biochar products.  The biosolids is first dried in a “BioDryer,” a proprietary system resembling an enclosed composting chamber and then processed through a pyrolysis unit to produce biochar. 

spotlight 2

Ephrata Borough Authority, with centrifuges and the Bioforcetech BIoDryers (pictured here) installed and operating, is now starting up the newly installed pyrolysis unit, with assistance of consultant GHD.

GHD has led the efforts to bring this technology to Ephrata. Charles Winslow is the project manager overseeing the purchase of the system and guiding the installation. The components in place today include centrifuges and BioDryer, which together take solids up to 75%. Start-up is now imminent for the third element, the pyrolysis unit, which will receive a continuous flow of cake for final drying to 95% followed by thermal depolymerization in the absence of oxygen to produce a biochar.  A key aspect is the oxidation of the syngas produced by the pyrolysis unit, using 30% of the heat for operating the pyrolysis and the other 70% for drying the biosolids in the BioDryer and in the storage unit after dewatering. Carbon filters and wet scrubbers are the air control system off the pyrolysis unit. Supplemental fuel is only used for start-up.  The pyrolysis units, now in their second generation of design, are expecting two months of operation before cleaning.  The biochar will be marketed by Bioforcetech, the revenue from which will be shared with the Authority.  PFAS concerns were a secondary, but deciding factor, in Ephrata’s selection of the system; the primary driver was the cost effectiveness of the total operation compared to other advanced stabilization technologies. 
 
Synagro’s CHAR Technologies
CHAR Technologies, out of Ontario, Canada,is manufacturing a demonstration unit of its high-temperature pyrolysis process. This demonstration unit was purchased by Synagro, which saw its role in solids processing at small plants and a potential to scale up to large facilities. The system Synagro purchased from CHAR is skid mounted and mobile, and, without a dryer component, is set up to process dried biosolids pellets. The expected initial trial in the Mid-Atlantic region is Baltimore’s Back River Treatment plant.

spotlight 3

Synagro purchased the mobile pyrolysis unit shown here, designed and built by Canada-based CHAR Technologies, with an eye toward demonstrating it at Baltimore’s Back River plant, where Synagro operates a biosolids dryer.

CHAR Technologies’ Pyrolysis Demonstration Unit (PDU) depolymerizes dried biosolids through pyrolysis, a high temperature thermal process operating in the absence of oxygen in a rotary kiln chamber with an external burner.  Except during start-up, the PDU is autogenous, as it is fueled with the syngas generated during the breakdown of biosolids, a major beneficial feature of the system.  The syngas contains dust, steam, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and methane, so the PDU is equipped with scrubbers that convert the syngas for internal use in the pyrolysis unit, with excess syngas combusted, along with exhaust gases from the pyrolysis unit, in a thermal oxidizer unit before being discharged through the stack. The excess syngas will be evaluated for suitability to use as supplemental energy for drying facilities at future installations. At full deployment, the PDU will produce approximately 143 standard cubic feet per minute of high heating value syngas and roughly 4 tons per day of inert carbon-rich biochar that can be used as a soil amendment or used as fill.  Approximately 26 gallons per hour of high Chemical Oxygen Demand ("COD") wastewater will be discharged back to the WRRF for treatment.
 
Derry Township Municipal Authority and Ecoremedy
Derry Township Municipal Authority (DTMA), Hershey, PA, is ready to pull the trigger on constructing the Ecoremedy gasification system, having navigated several complex processing, finance and permitting challenges that would rightfully cause any reasonable wastewater manager to pause.  The story of how Ecoremedy came to be is part of the larger story of DTMA’s biosolids program.  DTMA has “seen it all” with biosolids treatment and use. At one time, Derry had incinerators; these were followed by liquid injection to farmlands of lime stabilized biosolids; in  turn, this program was followed by anaerobic digestion with biogas fueled indirect paddle dryers. But “stuff” happened, such as a flood that damaged cogeneration equipment, irreparable wear and tear to its dryers, and problems with farmer complaints about dusty dried biosolids. While DTMA is back using Class B cake on farms, a master planning effort led by Brown and Caldwell was guided by DTMA’s goal of returning to Class A product and on staying ahead of the regulatory curve, which seemed to be pointing to PFAS regulation and restrictions on Class B use. DTMA also sought to preserve its “net energy positive” reputation with hauled-in organic waste feeding its iconic egg-shaped digester.

spotlight 4

The operator visually checks centrate return from the centrifuges to verify capture rate and polymer dosage, both factors in ensuring performance goals are being met.

Yes, DTMA’s 5 MGD plant has a complex set of moving parts, but Bill Rehkop, Executive Director for DTMA (PA), thrives on complexity.  When Ecoremedy, a local firm that had been experimenting with gasification of manure, turned its focus to biosolids with a demonstration project in southeastern Pennsylvania’s Morrisville STP, Rehkop took note.  He enlisted Brown and Caldwell, a firm with deep biosolids experience, to accompany DTMA in doing the detailed work of ensuring Ecoremedy’s success in delivering a facility that left no aspect to chance, including details of conveyance, storage, ventilation, odor and dust control, and fire/explosion protection. On top of this, Rehkop has consistently held as a core goal that of ensuring reliable flow and use of DTMA’s biosolids should an interruption of the gasification system occur, as he could move on a dime back to the use of Class B biosolids to farmlands.  Rehkop has also been persistent: confronting the intention of state regulators to reclassify its biosolids as industrial residuals; seeking to maximize state financial incentives (Penn Vest revolving fund) and procurement mechanisms (COSTARs); and, designing its gasifier to operate as a regional biosolids facility.  At the end of the process, DTMA will be producing a mineral rich ash, low in carbon because of nearly complete use of carbon for energy production. It will be a system that drives energy efficient drying and depolymerization process to yield a residual with soil building and plant nutrient attributes.

For more information, contact Mary (Firestone) Baker at [email protected] or 845-901-7905.
 

June 2024 - MABA Biosolids Spotlight 

Provided to MABA members by Bill Toffey, Effluential Synergies, LLC 

SPOTLIGHT on Henrico Water Reclamation Facility 

Henrico County Virginia’s biosolids program is in a sweet spot. Division Director James Grandstaff, Henrico Department of Public Utilities Water Reclamation Facility (WRF), can confidently stand by his biosolids program for meeting today’s goals while looking well into the future.

Henrico County’s WRF serves a geographically large wastewater system that wraps around Richmond, Virginia. It serves 330,000 people, treating about 40 million gallons daily and producing 110 wet tons daily of anaerobically digested cake, or about 40,000 wet tons annually. The WRF is located at a far southeastern corner of the county, out of sight of populated areas, and with space to spare for its processes and products.

One important attribute of Henrico’s sweet spot is that its solids processing systems have been thoughtfully shaped to support the WRF’s tough environmental standards. Its three centrifuges are operated in afternoon and evening shifts to conform to the pattern of high influent flows to the plant, helping the plant ensure compliance with its strict effluent standards for nitrogen (5 mg/l) and phosphorus (0.4 mg/l). The plant has an enviable 60 days of covered storage and another 60 days of uncovered storage for biosolids. For Grandstaff, the principal benefit of this storage is not so much in enabling distribution of biosolids that meets seasonal demand by his farmer customers, which is one goal, but in meeting a high standard of quality control, by enabling complete regulatory compliance with biosolids standards. No biosolids leaves the WRF until all data on compliance with pathogen and vector reduction standards and on pollutant and nutrient concentrations have been received and compiled for the NANI – the notice and necessary information -- the form released to the land application contractor Synagro prior to biosolids shipments. 

spotlight 1

This is a ground level view of the holding area for biosolids cake, with both the covered storage and the open storage, each able to carry up to 60 days of storage. This capacity enables Henrico to hold product ahead of all process and quality data being received to document compliance for the monthly Notice and Necessary Information form.

Phosphorus in effluent and in biosolids has been a challenge for many treatment facilities in the mid-Atlantic region, and again Henrico is in a sweet spot for phosphorus management. The utility receives the residuals from drinking water filtration plants that the county also runs. This is an alum residual that has the effect of binding with phosphorus. The benefit to Henrico’s WRF is that struvite formation within the plant is not a problem. Also, return flows of P in the centrate to the head of the plant are controlled when the centrifuges are operated for the 10 to 14 hours during periods of high plant flows, helping keep P concentrations diluted. Even so, as another sweet spot, Grandstaff looks forward to studies that examine technologies for phosphorus capture in the side stream centrate flow.

Another sweet spot is the good quality of the Class B cake. The four anaerobic digesters are operated with a solids retention time of over 20 days at a temperature of 98 to 99 degrees F. This is a combination of time and temperature that readily meets standards for a Process to Significantly Reduce Pathogens, which Grandstaff confirms with an “above and beyond” testing for fecal coliform in the cake. The standard of 38 percent volatile solids reduction for the Vector Attraction Reduction standard is also confidently met, but again confirmed with testing “above and beyond” of liquid sludge samples for stability using the 40-day test. This extra stabilization testing is a hedge against an occasionally large flow of alum residuals into the digesters that can confound monthly calculations of VS destruction. 

spotlight 2

Weekly biosolids cake samples are collected from the discharge conveyor for pollutant characterization, nutrients, and VS and PR compliance. Note the consistent, cloddy texture of the cake which verifies the solids content at or above 22 percent.

Henrico’s anaerobic digesters are a part of the biosolids sweet spot story. Solids flow to a set of three primary and one secondary digester. The digester capacity is such that the solids can be handled by three of the four digesters. This capacity allows Grandstaff to put digesters on a cleaning cycle every four years, ensuring not only full hydraulic capacity but also allowing timely repairs, such as clogged nozzles. While biogas is currently used as fuel for boilers that heat the digesters and 5 plant buildings, Grandstaff sees biogas as a resource with a higher value. He looks forward to a future Public-Private-Partnership contract that would cover biogas cleaning and offsite delivery as renewable natural gas. The current electricity price of $06.8 per kWh enjoyed by Henrico has made installation of its own co-generator system non-economic, and the low rates also have interfered with responses to a PPP for production of RNG. 

Land application of biosolids is a key sustainability feature for Henrico treatment program. Grandstaff has been moving Henrico to as nearly complete beneficial use of biosolids as can be economically and programmatically accomplished. Though co-disposal in municipal solid waste landfill is available as an emergency backup at any time, the goal for Henrico and its current contractor Synagro (a Mid-Atlantic Biosolids Association member) is full land application of biosolids. Henrico’s Class B anaerobically digested cake is great quality for the region’s farmers, according to Allen Guilliams, Synagro’s Director of Operations in Virginia, who points to its consistent quality and low odor as positive attributes for farmers. Guilliams is a 40-year veteran of biosolids application in this part of Virginia and is thereby a survivor of many historic challenges with land application. Guilliams and the land application operators with Synagro Virginia gratefully acknowledge today’s strong support from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the efforts of the Virginia Biosolids Council for the improved climate for biosolids in Virginia over the years.

spotlight 3

A view from within the cab of the front-end loader preparing to lift Henrico WRF biosolids cake into an awaiting manure spreader (not pictured). Note the tri-axle dump truck equipped with wheels for safe unloading on farmlands.

The sweet spot for Henrico biosolids is the skill of Guilliams and the Synagro team at carefully matching his many nearby farmer customers with the Henrico product. They match the farmers’ planned sequences of row crops (mostly corn and soybean) and cover crops (e.g., oats, rye and fescue) with availability of biosolids. Biosolids are mostly applied in soil surface applications to meet the no-till farming practices used in this region. Synagro’s large land base is adequate to meet the increasingly important goal for phosphorus management by rotating fields for biosolids on a three-year cycle. Because Synagro manages biosolids from several utilities that employ lime stabilization, they are able for some farmers to balance the acidifying effects of anaerobic cake with biosolids-borne lime. Another unique feature for Henrico is that gaps in the seasonality of agricultural demand for biosolids can be filled by Synagro with silviculture applications to Loblolly Pine tree farms. 

The sweetest spot arises from the strong team that works to make the biosolids program happen. This starts with Grandstaff himself, an effective manager with private-sector plant management experience, who has that special “touch” that empowers his staff to “own” their processes, create work arounds when needed, find economies and prepare for unexpected situations. One example has been with the effective control of dosage in polymer use, keeping rates well below industry standards, with clear budget benefits.

spotlight 4

The operator visually checks centrate return from the centrifuges to verify capture rate and polymer dosage, both factors in ensuring performance goals are being met.

The strong team includes the engineers at Hazen and Sawyer, a MABA member. Hazen staff at the Richmond office have partnered with Henrico through a generation of equipment upgrades and expansion. Hazen has been working at Henrico since 1998 and oversaw its expansion from 45 MGD to 75 MGD, completed in 2012. Major projects underway today include upgrades to 11 clarifiers, to primary and secondary BNR systems, and to deep beds for tertiary filtration. Hazen is also doing a conceptual design for metal salts additions to fine-tune phosphorus loading conditions, and looking at options for P removal through side stream treatment of centrate.

Grandstaff sees up ahead the need for a master planning effort. A key concern, as with many other MABA members across the region, is the effects of PFAS study and regulation-writing that are currently in full swing at EPA and in state government. While an early examination of wastewater and biosolids at Henrico points to no significant industrial sources of PFAS to its WRF, Grandstaff believes that a prudent course ahead is the study of technologies that could reduce PFAS and other currently unregulated organic contaminants, such as microplastics. The consultant tapped in the future to help guide Henrico’s master plant will find in Henrico’s adaptability and flexibility the kind of "sweet spot” that will ensure a solid biosolids future. 

Henrico WRF is the featured tour of the Mid Atlantic Biosolids Association 2024 Summer Symposium. The symposium begins with a Tuesday night reception on July 9 and completes on Thursday, July 11th, at the Omni Richmond in downtown Richmond. The WRF tour, which will be held on Thursday morning, 8:00 to 9:30 AM, is detailed in the program brochure.

For more information, contact Mary (Firestone) Baker at [email protected] or 845-901-7905.
 

May 2024 - MABA Biosolids Spotlight 

Provided to MABA members by Bill Toffey, Effluential Synergies, LLC 

SPOTLIGHT on Regional Biosolids Incinerators

Incineration is a big deal for biosolids management in the Mid-Atlantic region. MABA’s May 7th lunchtime webinar “From Sludge to Solutions - Ashes to Ashes: The Benefits of Sludge Incineration” featured aspects of the role of incineration in current biosolid issues.  Our region’s incinerators are in great shape, having accomplished upgrades foreseen by federal regulations promulgated in April 2016. Thermal processes have taken on a new glow of interest as a technology for destroying persistent organic pollutants, notably PFAS compounds. This checks the box on a list that includes concern for strengthened state-level regulations on soil phosphorus, storage, and the like. The role of incinerator owners in accepting trucked-in solids from neighboring WRRFs has added compelling value as agencies calculate among a variety of options the financial cost of replacing or upgrading solids-handling equipment. 

The Mid Atlantic has many notable sewage sludge incinerators (SSI). Of the estimated total regional production of 1 million dry metric tons of solids annually (dmt/a), 15 percent is incinerated. EPA’s 2022 ECHO (Enforcement and Compliance History Online) reports 47 public facilities in the region used sewage sludge incinerators (SSI).

Two such SSIs, both serving as strong regional facilities, are the Multiple Hearth Incinerators (MHIs) operated by DELCORA (Delaware County (PA) Regional Water Quality Authority) and ACUA (Atlantic County (NJ) Utility Authority). DELCORA is the largest incinerator operation in the region, at 20,000 dmt/a.  At 10,000 dmt/a, ACUA is the fourth largest facility. Between these two in size are the ALCOSAN (Allegheny County (PA) Sanitation Authority) Fluidized Bed Incinerators in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Noman M. Cole Jr. Pollution Control Plant MHIs in Fairfax County, Virginia.

spotlight 1

The main stack for the DELCORA MHIs with the Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers and the Wet Electrostatic Precipitators

Though both are multiple hearths operated by county authorities, several aspects of these two facilities provide distinctive contrasts. DELCORA Hauled Waste Program accepts deliveries of liquid sludges from municipal and industrial sources, blending and dewatering hauled waste with its primary sludge and WAS via gravity belt thickeners and belt presses to feed cake to the hearths. ACUA accepts only dewatered cake, which it blends with its own cake solids for feed to the hearths. Both facilities set the tipping price for sludges based on percent total solids, providing suppliers incentives to deliver consistent, well thickened residuals. Unless down for maintenance, DELCORA is operating both of its two MHIs 24-7, yet still has significant capacity.  ACUA is only permitted to operate one of its two MHIs at any time, with reasonable incineration capacity in reserve. DELCORA is situated in a heavily populated community in Chester, Pennsylvania, with strong environmental justice commitments. ACUA’s MHIs are on an island, close to a cluster of public utility operations (the WRRFs, the county operated municipal waste landfill (6 miles away), and an on-site wind generator farm) with its closest “receptors” a neighbor known as Venice Park and a self-storage facility, with a long distance to the city and resort developments.

spotlight 2

Bottom Floor at ACUA Furnace A with 7 Hearths

Both agencies share significant issues. Foremost is the special challenge of heightened state regulatory vigilance over incinerator operations.  MHIs have, as an inherent safety measure in operations, emergency bypass of air emissions controls in the event of a power loss or dip. Under its EPA Consent Decree, ACUA is penalized $3000 by EPA Region 2 each time it has such a bypass caused by Atlantic Electric. Vice President Joe Pantalone says that in each of 2020, 2021 and 2022 ACUA reported 17 bypasses. He believes it would be reasonable and fair to have EPA allow at least a once-a-quarter “mulligan,” however EPA has held to its no-tolerance condition.  

DELCORA, too, has faced regulatory scrutiny for its MHI bypasses. Its issue with bypasses was amplified by several factors.  The “transparency” policy under its environmental justice program obligates DELCORA to report to its citizenry each bypass occurrence, and it seeks to minimize the number of reports.  Electric power from PECO comes to DELCORA in two separate service lines, and an unannounced switch from one line to the other, even for a matter of several seconds, is sufficient to result in a shutdown and a reportable bypass. The electric company has provided no solution to this seconds-long interruption, and, therefore, DELCORA has now installed a large uninterruptible power supply (UPS) battery trailer, at a cost of one-half million dollars, to cover the occasional three second gap.  ACUA has been also considering a major upgrade to its UPS system to similarly manage emission control interruptions and will be looking for financial assistance with this as it renegotiates its operations agreement with the wind farm operators. 

Air pollution control equipment and compliance with air permit standards drives a large part of the biosolids management focus of both agencies. When the new SSI regulations were promulgated, fugitive emissions were the big compliance challenge for ACUA. The agency was compelled to install a fugitive ash capture system at a cost of over $3 million, and it recently overcame an issue by now achieving mandatory pH levels in its scrubber water. In design are new scrubbers and ID fans for both MHIs. ACUA is in continuing discussions regarding the EPA position on imposing installation of continuous monitors for mercury, about which the Consent Decree made no mention. 

DELCORA had big challenges, too, with compliance monitoring. DELCORA’s Director of Operations and Maintenance, Mike Disantis, credits unimpeachable collaboration among key champions from operations, maintenance and permit sections for overcoming seemingly unsolvable compliance challenges.  For Irene Fitzgerald in Permits, the challenge was in making a compelling case for the risks of Title V Permit noncompliance. To make the case, she had to master combustion chemistry -- the role of overfeeding of solids to incinerator temperatures, the causes of slagging and cyanide and hydrochloric acid formation, and the importance pH control, to name a few -- to help Operations and Maintenance.  Operations Supervisor Tommy Czwalina, who had previously operated the furnaces, used his style of gentle probing, patience and strategic suggestions, to work with operators who had many more years of service than he, but who had varying operations practice.  He had to overcome the undesirably wide variability in cake solids in the MHI feed, including issues of mixing, thickening, polymer addition, and press operations. Automation and Electrical Maintenance Manager Clint Swope discovered clever solutions, such as monitoring voltage to identify fouling of electrodes in the ESP precipitators, recognizing the effect of sudden grease influx on excessive temperature spikes in the RTO, and developing a creative method of cleaning the belt press filters with sprays of hot water. With the support of Executive Director Bob Willert and the Board of Directors, Clint was rewarded for his ingenuity by receiving minimal pushback when he made the equipment purchase request. 

spotlight 3

Control Room with SCADA and Video Screens for MHIs at DELCORA

As with DELCORA, ACUA is moving toward a “cleaner” incinerator operation that arises with upgraded consistency of sludge feed quality. ACUA is totally revamping its means of receiving outside cake, with construction of a new receiving area with at-grade hoppers, as sludge providers deliver cake ranging in percent solids from 16% and 29%. ACUA will have two 60-yard hoppers where today it only has one, so it can better manage the blending of outside sludges of low percent solids with sludges of higher solids before pumping the mixture to the top of the furnace.

spotlight 4

ACUA Furnace A at the Electrostatic Precipitator

A major payback to DELCORA and ACUA in their keen focus on incinerator operations and compliance is their capacity to serve a wide variety of public agencies in the region with biosolids disposal services. For ACUA, solids from some agencies are delivered on dependable schedules, while others call upon Pantalone when they have unanticipated interruptions in their other outlets; over one six-month period cake came down from Connecticut after a major facility in Stamford went out of service. DELCORA also has a robust panel of suppliers and are often fully subscribed. 

Both facilities may find themselves players in the PFAS disposal arena.  PFAS has increased interest in incineration, as the operational temperature of upgraded SSIs are believed to have the potential to accomplish PFAS destruction. In ACUA’s case, with one incinerator not in service, ACUA could take steps to allow its second incinerator to operate concurrently, should incineration be proved a viable method for the destruction of PFAS. This could present a business opportunity for the Authority. Against this uncertainty in demand for biosolids incinerations services is the parallel opening of biosolids composting services within the same market area. 

DELCORA and ACUA provide important lessons.  Though unknowns and contingencies in the biosolids marketplace will likely persist, the availability of multiple new “merchant” disposal outlets is a turnaround in the biosolids market within the MABA region which hasn’t been enjoyed for many years. The stories of ACUA and DELCORA reaffirm the importance of strong champions within each agency to accomplish impeccable operations, even in the face of what at first blush are unreasonable expectations, innovative technologies and complicated regulations. 

For more information, contact Mary Firestone at [email protected] or 845-901-7905.
 
More Articles...
<< first < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > last >>

Page 1 of 10