Sludge Watch ==> Rialto California - turning sludge into energy

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Lets see: energy from sludge going into Rialto,California,  energy from 
sludge proposed for Liberty Energy  in Imperial Valley, California, energy 
from sludge proposed in Kern, energy from sludge in Colton California...why 
even bother pretending that sludge - that mix of industrial contaminants and 
fecal waste  is 'fertilizer'?  In Kern, as elsewhere in the US and Canada, 
there is no 'market' for sewage sludge as fertilizer. Essentially the cities 
like Los Angeles have bought land and these cities..or their waste 
haulers... are now the 'farmers'.

As the unacceptability of sludge as a soil ammendment becomes more evident, 
cities in Southern California are facing steep costs to truck it to unhappy 
communities in Arizona.  Similarly Toronto is sending its foul fecal 
findings far afield.  New York, Quebec, and even Ohio are the new addresses 
of Toronto's toilet tailings.

So the 'energy from waste' approach ... avoiding heavy trucking costs and 
gaining income from energy sold onto the power grid or even energy offsets 
at the wastewater plant - is being widely considered.

Communities like Hinkley California that are faced with being home to huge 
open-air sludge 'compost' operations are asking for state-of-the-art fully 
enclosed facilities with air emissions controls.  The land application of 
Class B sludge is increasingly a thing of the past.  Even the Class A  
open-air sludge processing sites are now seen as unacceptable intrusions on 
community health.  The public is asking for state-of-the-art facilities...

As they say in Hinkley -
" Get a dome or go home"


................................................................................................
City hopes to turn waste into energy
Jason Pesick, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun
Article Launched:12/28/2006 12:00:00 AM PST

RIALTO - The city has ambitious plans for what's in your sewer.
Rialto plans to upgrade its wastewater-treatment plant and add a fuel cell 
powered by the waste to provide energy to the plant and the park slated to 
go up next door that will collect biosolids and sludge.

The collection facility powered by the fuel cell next door will produce 
energy pellets that could be sold to cement factories. The city would also 
make money off fees charged to others who deposit waste at the facility, and 
it would save money by depositing its waste there for free.

Within a year, the city hopes to use $3.4 million in state funds doled out 
by The Gas Co. to pay for the fuel cell.

The fuel cell would be part of a complete upgrade of the plant, which is 
next to a planned biosolids-collection facility that would turn biosolids 
into energy pellets.

Fuel cells combine oxygen and hydrogen to produce electricity, a process 
that leaves only water and heat as byproducts. The process is two to three 
times more efficient than burning fuel, not to mention cleaner.

City Engineer Derek Wieske said carbon will be stripped off the methane 
produced by the wastewater plant. The hydrogen that is left over will be 
used to produce the energy. He said the methane currently produced at the 
plant is being burned off.

The fuel cell will be able to produce enough electricity to power the 
treatment plant and the proposed regional biosolids-collection facility next 
door. That facility would turn biosolids from around the area into energy 
pellets that could be sold. The treatment plant costs the city up to 
$800,000 a year in electricity costs.

The grant from The Gas Co. is part of a program that has given out about $39 
million since 2001 to alternative and efficient energy-generation

systems, said company spokesman Peter Hidalgo. He said that's enough to 
power 37,000 homes.

The company gave the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley $2 
million to help pay for microturbines that power and heat the entire 
facility, Hidalgo said.

In addition to the fuel cell and upgrades to the treatment plant, the city 
also plans to install a fats-, oils- and grease-receiving station, also 
known as a FOG-receiving station, into the wastewater plant to provide the 
fuel cell with more methane. The receiving station would be a collection 
site for restaurants' grease interceptors.

The City Council will be meeting with the city's Utilities Commission next 
month to discuss the fuel-cell project, which will then go before the 
council in February, said Assistant City Administrator Kirby Warner.