New Technology Could Help PA Wastewater Plant Go From Energy Consumer To Producer
As the world becomes more energy-conscious, the wastewater treatment sector offers ample opportunity to rethink power consumption. And one operation in Pennsylvania is demonstrating what breakthroughs in technology can do to totally transform this sector.
“Phoenixville has announced plans to build what it claims will be the first hydrothermal carbonization plant at a municipally-owned wastewater treatment center … in all of North America,” WHYY reported. “The borough’s wastewater treatment plant is currently the largest user of energy in the municipality, but Phoenixville officials think the new set up will eventually evolve it into an energy producer.”
Wastewater treatment plants expend significant amounts of energy in the operation of machinery used to treat influent. But this influent is often rich in organic matter and biosolids, which offer an opportunity to capture useful byproducts.
Many operations, including the one in Phoenixville, use an anaerobic digestion process to break down the organic matter using bacteria. This releases methane, which can normally be recaptured after a few weeks, but the innovative hydrothermal carbonization process can recapture it within several hours. This could significantly improve a wastewater plant’s ability to efficiently utilize the byproducts of this organic matter.
“The new technology is faster, safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly than the current process of anaerobic digestion and also has the potential to yield beneficial bioproducts, including biocoal, construction sand, synthetic gas and improved fertilizers,” the Daily Local explained. “Hydrothermal carbonization … has the power to offset the carbon use of every driver residing in Phoenixville.”
The Phoenixville operation discovered its opportunity to improve its processes this way after an accident in 2009 that forced it to rebuild part of its facility. It then secured nearly $1 million in grant funding to move forward.
With construction scheduled to begin February, the potential success of this project could offer a model to other wastewater operations around the country. If the Phoenixville operation truly offsets as much carbon as expected and becomes a net energy producer, it’s hard to see why other municipalities would not attempt to do the same.
To read more about how wastewater treatment operations recapture useful byproducts from influent, visit Water Online’s Sludge And Biosolids Solutions Center.