From Austin, TX American-Statesman, 11-20-09. Federal Stimulus Money to Improve Austin, TX Sewage Facility. Texas Water Development Board announced on November 19 that Austin Water Utility will get $31.8 million in federal stimulus money for green infrastructure improvements at the Hornsby Bend Biosolids Management Plant. Hornsby, a popular birding spot, receives and treats all biosolids produced by Austinns wastewater treatment plants. Dillo Dirt, a soil fertilizer, is produced at the facility, by composting curbside yard trimming collections and digested biosolids.

Herees the technical explanation of the improvements from an Austin Water Utility news release: The improvements will enhance on-site solids handling capacity, decrease off-site land application and reduce 30,000 gallons of diesel fuel consumption annually by 2012. Digester tank upgrades will improve the energy efficiency of the biosolids processing and increase biogas production. In cooperation with Austin Energy (AE), a generator will be installed to convert biogas to electricity which will add up to 1.75 MW of electricity to AEEs grid and result in a reduction of greenhouse gasses by 6,500 tons of CO2 per year.

 From Sam Hadeed, shadeed@wef.org.  WEF Webcast - Microconstituents in Biosolids: Presence, Gaps, and a Glimpse into the Future. WEF will hold a December 16 Webcast from 2:00 3:30 pm EST - Microconstituents in Biosolids: Presence, Gaps, and a Glimpse into the Future. This webcast will offer a snapshot of what is currently known about the presence of microconstituents in biosolids, what the key information gaps are in determining what detection really means, and what needs to be considered regarding biosolids when planning for a sustainable future. The latter goal will be achieved through a thought-provoking presentation on biosolids sustainable practices. Presentations will also include a discussion of the results of the U.S. EPA Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey (TNSSS) Report. Additionally, related portions from a State of the Science Report being developed by the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) will be presented, explaining what is known regarding potential effects associated with microconstituents in biosolids, and what gaps in key information need to be filled to perform hazard assessments.

Moderator and speakers will include:

• Moderator: Tom Granato, PhD - Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
• Bill Toffey Effluential Synergies, LLC
• Rick Stevens U.S. EPA
• George OOConnor, PhD -University of Florida
• Open Q&A

Registration Information: Registration Form;  Online Registration  Webcast registrants can earn 1.5 Professional Development Hours (PDHs) by using WEFFs new online 3-step process emailed to Registrants in advance of the webcast.  Registration deadline is December 14, 2009.

From Biomass Magazine, 11-17-09. California Sanitation District Provides Regional Biosolids Management Solution. The Ventura Regional Sanitation District in southern Ventura County, Calif., has officially commenced operations at its biosolids drying and electric generation facility in Santa Paula, a project which the utility hopes will serve as a model for other regional governments and municipalities. It took about two years and $19 million to construct the facility, which is on three acres at the Toland Road Sanitary Landfill. The facility utilizes landfill gas to provide 100 percent of its required power (about 1 megawatt), and an extra 1.5 megawatts are sold to the local power grid, according to VRSD General Manger Mark Lawler. With some additional units, the facility could handle the biosolids from up to 700,000 people.

Within the 10-city county, VRSD is contracted to take biosolids from six cities that do wastewater treatment. The remainders are special districts that donnt have large volumes of biosolids, so they havennt contracted with us just yet, but weere working on those,, Lawler said. We needed these contracts with the cities in order to get the financing for the projecttthis project proceeded with no grants or special loans, so we went for conventional financing.. The land fill gas, after going through a process to remove excess liquids and filtration systems, is conveyed to the facility by a blower that supplies low-pressure gas to the biosolids dryer and a compressor that sends high-pressure gas to fuel nine microturbines for electricity generation.

Biosolids arrive at the facility via trucks, and are dried in two 80-ton batch dryers. Hot oil from process heaters circulates around the dryer shell and through a series of internal rotors that turn the biosolids to dry them evenly. Steam from the dryers is condensed to water, which is treated and then used for dust control at the landfill; exhaust air from the dryers is filtered to remove odors and particulates. The dried biosolids are conveyed to trailers at the receiving station and hauled to the landfill. The end product from the biosolids qualifies under Californiaas Solid Waste Law, and weere using that as daily cover at the landfill right now,, Lawler said. Californiaas Solid Waste Law AB 939 requires each city or county to divert 50 percent of all solid waste from landfill or transformation facilities by Jan. 1, 2000, through source reduction, recycling and composting activities.

Several people have contacted VRSD and are interested in securing the end product for commercial use as a fuel source or fertilizer, Lawler said. Since the electric generation and biosolids processing facility began initial start-up operations in August, the two dryers have been ramped up to handle about 120 tons of biosolids per day. Itts the first of its kind, so weeve been doing things slowly to make sure everythinggs done properly,, Lawler said. To our knowledge, this is the first of its kind in Californiaawhere somebody is treating biosolids regionally rather than individually. Weed really like to show other regional governments and municipalities what we have, and help those who are interested try to duplicate it..

From Community Press, Stirling, Canada, 11-23-09. Public Can Still Have Say on Canadian Company Waste Management Plan.  Quinte Waste Solutions will be accepting public input until December to help design a new 20-year integrated waste management plan (IWMP) but so far the public hasn't shown much interest. The company held five public meetings, beginning in September, to make local residents aware of the various waste management alternatives. But Quinte Waste Solutions IWMP co-coordinator Don Scharfe said the meetings were not well-attended. Eight people showed up for the meeting in Madoc November 18 but other public sessions failed to draw a single person, he said, even though they had been advertised on the radio and announced at council meetings in the nine member municipalities.

Quinte Waste Solutions also distributed surveys with detailed questions on waste management to determine what the public wants, and the input will be used to draft a 20-year plan that balances social, environmental and economical needs to provide a holistic approach to managing waste.  "We want to be ahead of the game," Scharfe said. "Nothing is carved in stone yet, we're still looking for opinions."  Earlier this year, the Ministry of the Environment published a guide to help municipalities create a new management plan that would reduce waste to almost zero. "We could become our own best market for compost and recycled content," Scharfe said. "We want to try to get landfills as close to nothing as possible. There are some waste management issues that need to be dealt with now."

Scharfe said Quinte Waste Solutions wanted to move ahead with a plan now in case the ministry makes it mandatory. The priority is to start divert waste from going into the landfill by reusing and recycling the material rather than discard it as trash. "Many products are mined, made into a product, purchased, break, and then they're thrown out. Products last just long enough that you're not so unhappy that you don't go out and buy another one," he said.

Scharfe is working on the project along with the Centre and South Hastings Waste Services board, a steering committee with nine municipal reps, and a working committee with 10 members, most of them appointed citizens. Through focus group meetings, the main issues of waste management were whittled down to five main areas of interest: a publicly owned waste transfer station, the blue box system, household food waste, biosolids management, and recovery of energy from waste.  As he did at the other public meetings, Scharfe addressed each area last week at Madoc and the alternatives.

A publicly owned transfer station would essentially be the first building block of the IWMP, he said. "We've got a pretty good idea this is something we need, to get a hold of the waste problem in the area," Scharfe said. "It's clean, modern, well controlled, and it's proven technology." The transfer station would be set up in a central location and could be equipped to take anything from electronics, to appliances and compost. It would also provide a quick turnaround as the waste would be collected, compacted, and shipped out all at the same depot. Scharfe estimated a simple transfer station for recyclables and compost would cost between $4 million and $5 million.

The public was encouraged to make suggestions on the collection of household food waste and recyclables. The current service has an 83 per cent participation rate. Residents are responsible for sorting their own recyclables for pickup. Quinte Waste Solutions suggested a second option in which residents would not be required to sort but they would have to pay higher fees for the convenience. With composting, option one would mean curbside pickup of all food waste, including meat and bones, but bag tag prices for the remaining garbage would rise to offset the cost of the pickup.

Enhanced backyard composting which many residents already use, Scharfe said would see one free compost bin supplied to each household at no cost, but garbage would be collected in clear bags to ensure food waste stayed out of the trash. This would not include meat and bones. Biosolids and energy production from waste is a major part of the 20-year plan. Finding alternative options for lagoon sludge and treated sewage is a priority. "Land spreading is the current norm for biosolids," Scharfe said.

Although it's the cheapest way to manage biosolids, he added, it's becoming less and less socially accepted. As a result, Quinte Waste came up with five alternative solutions to land spreading, including drying biosolids to create fuel and fertilizer pellets for sale, and using the waste to create a compost-like landfill cover. Lastly, Scharfe discussed a number of facility options for energy recovery from waste. Quinte Waste has until March 31, 2010 to finalize the plan. Scharfe said he hopes to obtain two-thirds of the funding for the project from the Green Infrastructure Fund. "We've submitted an application and put in a dream list," he said. "We're starting to create a draft version of the plan." Scharfe said questions, comments and requests for surveys or more information can be sent to iwmp@quinterecycling.org until Dec. 20. 

From Environmental Expert, Madrid, Spain 11-19-09. Eco-solids Process Licensed in China. British company, Eco-Solids International Limited (ESI) of New Milton, Hampshire have signed a licensing agreement with Shenyang Yinuo Science and Technology Company (Yinuo) of Shenyang, China. The agreement was signed on 22nd October 2009, and will result in Yinuo building, installing and commissioning the Eco-Solids Process (ESP) in China.Eco-Solids International has the worldwide exclusive rights outside the USA for the patented sludge treatment process, which has already been established in several commercial systems in North America. Yinuo are an environmental and water equipment company.

The Eco-Solids Process is an advanced lime stabilisation technology for the treatment of sewage sludges, which meets the equivalent of European and US safe sludge standards. The process is unique in that it recycles the heat produced from the treatment process to pre-heat incoming sludge, making the process much more efficient than conventional lime treatment processes. No nuisance odours are produced due to a simple odour scrubber on the gas and vapour outlet from the process. The treated biosolids have a low water content, which allows the product to be easily handled and transported for subsequent use as an agricultural soil amendment, an inert building substrate, or as an energy source.

Clive Ridgen, Eco-Solidds Managing Director commented: At a time when China is looking for ways to reduce its carbon footprint, and improve the quality of its agricultural soils, the Eco-Solids Process brings simple and rapid benefits. We are pleased to have found a partner company in Yinuo who have similar aims and aspirations as ourselves, and we are looking forward to long and fruitful co-operationn. The agreement is starting with the fabrication of a first ESP unit in the province of Liaoning, in the NE of China, where economic growth and wastewater infrastructure improvements are amongst the highest in the country. Distributors are already being appointed in other provinces. Through this arrangement, Eco-Solids anticipates in excess of 20 ESP units to be fabricated and operational in China over the next three years.

From Sam Hadeed, shadeed@wef.org. This Week in Washington from WEF. This Week in Washington (TWIW) is a free weekly e-newsletter of the Water Environment Federation's Government Affairs Department that is published on Fridays. It provides updates on the latest legislative and regulatory developments affecting the water and wastewater communities.View the on-line edition. You can also bookmark this link for future reference. To receive via email, send your request to the Editor - Sam Hadeed at shadeed@wef.org.