The Challenges and Opportunities of Operating a Digester in a Changing Market

Transcription

1 The Challenges and Opportunities of Operating a Digester in a Changing Market

2 ABOUT GREENWHEY ENERGY Waste management service that began in Operates one of nation s largest independently owned anaerobic digester facilities. Background Information: Types of Clients: Cheese manufacturers, ethanol producers, food and beverage processors. Power Production: 3.2 MW (powers 3,000 homes) Gallons processed / day: 300,000

3 OUR PHILOSOPHY Built upon idea that waste management can be clean and sustainable. Three core principles: CLEANLINESS: We strive for cleanliness in our facility, in our operations, and in our business practices. SUSTAINABILITY: No longer can waste just be swept under the rug. Our model is built upon harnessing and reusing the latent energy in food and beverage waste byproducts. DISCRETION: Clients trust us to be an end source for their waste products. We take this responsibility very seriously.

4 OUR PROCESS Wastewater intake Biosolids Anaerobic Digestion Clean water discharge Biogas and electricity

5 VIRTUAL TOUR: OVERVIEW State-of-the-art facility Designed by Ecolab, engineered by Symbiont. Key features: Fully enclosed, unlike majority of anaerobic digestion facilities. Odor control system keeps odors in check. Designed to cater to broad range of food and beverage producers.

6 VIRTUAL TOUR: INTAKE On-site intake capable of taking 60 bulk loads of wastewater daily. Two loading bays. High speed pumps offload trucks in 15 minutes.

7 VIRTUAL TOUR: LABORATORY Fully equipped laboratory for testing and data documentation. We test: Incoming loads of material on set list of parameters. Water in digesters to measure health of system. Effluent discharge for cleanliness and compliance.

8 VIRTUAL TOUR: CONTROL ROOM Plant operations controlled by a SCADA computer system. Operators onsite 24/7. Monitor tank levels, process flow, biogas production, and discharge quality.

9 VIRTUAL TOUR: PRODUCTION FLOOR Facility built around two, 2.2 million gallon bioreactors. Raw food and beverage process wastewater is pumped into the bottom of the tanks. Digestate, or effluent, flows over the top and into a comprehensive wastewater treatment process.

10 VIRTUAL TOUR: ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION Biogas produced in the bioreactors is used to power two Caterpillar generators. They produce 3.2 MW of power, enough to power 3,000 homes. Heat from the units is used to heat building and keep reactors warm through the winter.

11 VIRTUAL TOUR: WASTEWATER TREATMENT To clean discharge water, we operate traditional wastewater treatment equipment. Two DAF units, an MBBR reactor, and a solids separation system, remove phosphorus and solids from waste water. Treated water is discharged to the local municipality.

12 VIRTUAL TOUR: BIOSOLIDS Remaining byproduct is the solids removed from the discharge wastewater. These solids are condensed into a high grade fertilizer using a belt filter press. This fertilizer is designated Class A, or suitable for any home garden or farm. GreenWhey currently sells its fertilizer to local farmers.

13 FUTURE PLANS GreenWhey founders are starting a new company to manage off-spec food and beverage consumer products. Company will utilize GreenWhey for liquid management and local recyclers for packaging materials. Products to be managed: Soda cans and bottles. Beer cans and bottles. Dairy products. Any other liquid soluble organic waste goods.

14 CHLORIDE MANAGEMENT Food industry wastewater contains large amounts of chlorides. These resulted in new restrictions on local municipality. In response, we are installing an evaporator/drier system powered by our own excess heat. It will: Vaporize 95% of liquid Leave salt concentrate that could find use as road de-icer. Make GreenWhey one of the only facilities capable of handling highchloride waste streams.

15 FURTHER INFORMATION You can find us online to learn more about our operation: Learn about our services and read our story at greenwheyenergy.com Follow our latest developments on Twitter and Facebook. us for more information at