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| Bioenergy |
The Commission approved $999,924 to the Antioch-based Delta Diablo Sanitation District to develop, demonstrate, and implement a system to turn biosolids into energy. The total cost of the project is $4,738,924, with the remainder of costs coming from Intellergy Corporation of Richmond.
There appears to be a need to generate energy form untapped waste and reduce the volume going into state’s landfills. The press release provided more details:
“Biosolids are the treated byproduct produced by wastewater treatment facilities when organics are removed from municipal sewage. Biosolids contain latent energy that can be harnessed in several ways; one conversion method involves heating the material to break down the solids and create gases that are converted to energy.
Wastewater treatment facilities in California must address how to manage biosolids. Existing options for using biosolids are limited (mainly land application and alternative daily cover in landfills) and face increasing environmental challenges that could eliminate those options. Current disposal practices often involves hauling biosolids long distances, which consumes transportation fuels, increases greenhouse gas emissions, and increases ratepayers' costs for wastewater treatment.
The Delta Diablo Sanitation District will lead the implementation of a regional biosolids to energy facility under the project that the Energy Commission is funding. The project will demonstrate the steam/carbon dioxide reforming technology of Intellergy which has yet to be commercially demonstrated with biosolids. The biosolids will be heated at a high temperature in an airlock vessel, vaporizing the liquids and gasifying the organic solids. Steam and carbon dioxide will then be added, producing a hydrogen-rich gaseous fuel known as syngas. The hydrogen gas produced will be used to run a fuel cell to generate electricity.”
