The city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is planning to construct a $21 million biodigester at its Water Resource Recovery Facility, according to report by mlive.com. The project idea came when the city’s wastewater division began receiving a larger stream of food waste from companies such as Founders Brewing Co., Coca-Cola, Amyway and SET Environmental.
The city will launch its first phase by building three tanks with a capacity of 1.4 million gallons each and include space for an expansion of three more, the report says. Carbon filters, a system the city currently uses at its wastewater plant, will be used for odor control at the biodigester.
Gas produced by the organic materials’ breakdown will power a turbine and produce 60 percent of the plant’s electricity, the report says. The sludge byproduct cannot be sold under federal regulations, but can be used on land that’s not being farmed for direct human consumption in a liquid or dried form, or can be buried in a landfill.
Originally, the biodigester was set to provide power in the off-peak times and compliment a large solar farm at the former Butterworth Landfill site, but the company that won the bid for the solar project stopped communicating with the city, the report says.
A $2.5 million, 10-inch pipe will be built under Market Avenue in Grand Rapids later this year, the report says, and will extend from the treatment plant to Founders Brewing Company. The pipe will flow food waste from Founders, including material left over from the beer making process, as well as waste from the Coca-Cola bottling plant and an Amway Nutrilite manufacturing facility. According to the report, SET Environmental also sends landfill leachate to the wastewater plant for treatment.
A $5 million investment for a sludge treatment system, which will take the phosphorous out of the sluge, bumps the cost of the whole project—including the pipe and digester system—to around $30 million. The report says the cost savings from the biodigester will offset any costs of doing business.
No more results found. The city will launch its first phase by building three tanks with a capacity of 1.4 million gallons each and include space for an expansion of three more, the report says. Carbon filters, a system the city currently uses at its wastewater plant, will be used for odor control at the biodigester.
Gas produced by the organic materials’ breakdown will power a turbine and produce 60 percent of the plant’s electricity, the report says. The sludge byproduct cannot be sold under federal regulations, but can be used on land that’s not being farmed for direct human consumption in a liquid or dried form, or can be buried in a landfill.
Originally, the biodigester was set to provide power in the off-peak times and compliment a large solar farm at the former Butterworth Landfill site, but the company that won the bid for the solar project stopped communicating with the city, the report says.
A $2.5 million, 10-inch pipe will be built under Market Avenue in Grand Rapids later this year, the report says, and will extend from the treatment plant to Founders Brewing Company. The pipe will flow food waste from Founders, including material left over from the beer making process, as well as waste from the Coca-Cola bottling plant and an Amway Nutrilite manufacturing facility. According to the report, SET Environmental also sends landfill leachate to the wastewater plant for treatment.
A $5 million investment for a sludge treatment system, which will take the phosphorous out of the sluge, bumps the cost of the whole project—including the pipe and digester system—to around $30 million. The report says the cost savings from the biodigester will offset any costs of doing business.