Researchers test sludge treatment system
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A University of Nevada, Reno system to turn wastewater sludge into fuel is scheduled to be set up in the Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility, which treats an average of 30 million gallons of wastewater per day.
The experimental system will process 20lb of sludge per hour, drying it at modest temperatures into a solid that will then be analysed for its suitability to be used for fuel through gasification. The refrigerator-sized demonstration unit will help researchers determine the optimum conditions for a commercial-sized operation.
Chuck Coronella, principle investigator for the research project and an associate professor of chemical engineering, said: ’We’re designing, building and assembling a continuous-feed system that will ultimately be used to generate electricity. We’ll run experiments throughout the summer, creating a usable dried product from the sludge.’
Wastewater sludge is a promising biomass stock but is currently being stored in landfills after inefficient processing.
’The beauty of this process is that it’s designed to be all on site, saving trucking costs and disposal fees for the sludge,’ added Victor Vasquez, a university faculty member in chemical engineering.
Estimates, which will be further refined through the research, show that a full-scale system could potentially generate 600kW of electricity a day to help power the plant.
The demonstration-scale project is a collaboration with the cities of Reno and Sparks, operators of the wastewater plant. Installation of the system will begin in April, and it will be tested in mid-May. The project will last until the autumn.
The University’s Technology Transfer Office, with assistance from the College of Business, is supporting the project with plans to make the system available to hundreds of communities around the country that operate water treatment plants.
Readers' comments (3)
J Peel | 19 Mar 2010 3:21 pm
Given that drying and gasifiying the sludge will require a lot of heat (From completely burning a proportion of the dried feedstock), how does this compare in efficiency to gas from anaerobic digestion? Especialy if there is no localised use for any excess heat.
Or could it be used in addition to digestion, since some solids are always left over?
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Steelpedler | 19 Mar 2010 6:56 pm
A full scale system at 600KW a day, assuming this is produced at an even rate per hour, and using 10 cents per KW hour means it produces $60 a day worth of electriciy. Hardly pays for itself. A nice, feel-good research project though for a university. People have been trying to do this for 25 years and all of the systems have a net energy input and aren't cost effective. Why do you think sludge is still be disposed of in landfills?
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Jeffrey Fournier | 20 Mar 2010 4:32 pm
Our research team have been piloting a wastewater sludge gasifier, named, The Sludgifier, that dries the sludge into a pelletized fuel feed stock, gasifies the fuel into hydrogen and CO, and ultimately powers an interanl combustion motor driven generator. The study has progressed to a full scale project in Stamford Ct. www.stamfordbiogas.com
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