project report
Food waste and wastewater sludge
Monterey One
Water ’ s Regional Treatment Plant in Marina , California has contracted with Anaergia to complete a project that will return a mothballed anaerobic digester to service and provide state-ofthe-art Anaergia digestion tank mixing technology to process food waste with biosolids without impacting critical wastewater operations .
Text and image by Anaergia
co-digestion facility to be built
Anaergia Inc . has announced it will provide technologies that will enable Monterey One Water , the wastewater utility of northern Monterey County , California , to make renewable energy from food waste as well as wastewater . The project will significantly expand anaerobic digestion capacity at Monterey One Water ’ s Regional Treatment Plant ( RTP ) in Marina , California , and provide organic waste receiving and pre-processing equipment . This will allow the utility to receive and co-digest food waste in existing digesters currently used to process wastewater biosolids . When anaerobically digested , the waste produces renewable biogas , which is then used to generate electricity and heat at the Monterey One plant . The project will allow the utility to produce 1.6 MW of renewable electricity and avoid over 9,000 metric tons of CO2e emissions per year .
Projected benefits
The project will return a mothballed anaerobic digester to service and provide state-of-the-art Anaergia digestion tank mixing technology to process food waste with biosolids without impacting critical wastewater operations . The new technology will simultaneously improve performance and save energy . Along with the ability to co-digest food waste with biosolids , Monterey One will benefit from a significant expansion of digester capacity to provide operational flexibility . The project will increase biogas production from the plant ’ s four digesters by more than 150 %, which will be used to make up to 1.6 MW of renewable electricity via on-site combined heat and power ( CHP ) engines . The increased energy production will provide more than 100 % of the plant ’ s power needs , significantly reducing operating costs , supporting revenue generation , and increasing resiliency and reliability . This significant expansion in onsite energy generation is a major asset to the development of a joint microgrid that will be shared by Monterey One neighbor and regional solid waste agency , ReGen . The upgraded anaerobic digestion technologies and new waste receiving equipment will assist the region ’ s solid waste industry , by enabling diversion of food waste from regional landfills to advance compliance with California ’ s SB1383 legislation . The new law is designed to reduce planet-warming methane emissions , which are created when food and other organic wastes are landfilled .
Solving a major problem
CalRecycle , California ’ Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery , will provide approximately EUR 4M in grant funds , minimising impact on the utility ’ s ratepayers by offsetting most of the project ’ s cost . Work on the project is expected to begin in Q2 2023 and be completed by Q3 2024 . “ By upgrading its infrastructure to enable co-digestion of food waste along with its wastewater , Monterey One Water will now not only recycle water ; it will also recycle organic waste that would have otherwise created methane emissions in landfills . This turns a big problem into a huge benefit and ultimately is what will make a net-zero future possible for planet earth ,” said Andrew Benedek , Chairman and CEO of Anaergia . “ These proven technologies will eventually be implemented at hundreds of other wastewater treatment plants around the world , and Monterey One Water is leading the way .” “ With support from CalRecycle , we have a unique opportunity to co-digest wastewater solids with food waste to produce more green energy , which will both reduce our operating costs and cut our carbon emissions . This is a model solution for other wastewater utilities ,” said Paul Sciuto , General Manager of Monterey One Water .
12 Valve World August 2023 www . valve-world . net