All | Anaerobic Digestion/Biogas | WWT Operational Efficiency

FOOD WASTE TO ENERGY USING BAE™

The NJ Department of Agriculture received a federal grant to work with a 6 MGD Wastewater Treatment Facility positioned in an area that is home to many Food Processors. The facility planned to build a Food Waste Treatment System that would utilize an inactive Anaerobic Digester at the plant. With Prodex's assistance and by using existing infrastructure, the project negated the need to spend $3- $5 million on constructing an entirely new digester from the ground up.

The project provided an opportunity to create a tangible, working apparatus to demonstrate whether food waste & manure (provided by food processors and farmers) could be used efficiently and effectively to create gas used to power a co- generation unit that supplies electrical power to run the Authority’s sewage-treatment operations.

The bio-solids being treated were supplemented using BAE™. The addition of BAE™ into the digester stabilized the materials being treated and as a result:

  • Biogas output increased by 37%

  • Facility is now generating $150K/yr. in revenue & growing

  • Plant is able to receive and process external materials effortlessly due to increased buffering capacity & throughput

IMPROVED BIOGAS PRODUCTION USING BAE™

Like many wastewater treatment facilities across the country, a 60 MGD facility was looking to increase their digester gas production. The plant installed four co-generation units with a capacity of 800 kW each. The engines are capable of using either methane gas from the digesters or natural gas supplied by public utilities. Power produced by the co-generation system accounts for over 70% of the total power required to operate the entire facility.

The addition of the co-generation system became a strong incentive to produce more digester gas. Following pilot testing on one of the four digesters with BAE™, the plant personnel chose to test BAE™ for the entire digester treatment system. The results were astounding:

  • Digester gas production increased by 41%

  • Cost avoidance for facility due to additional gas produced equates to $392K/yr.