An Ohio company has figured out a way to turn biosolids into electricity-generating fuel, and a power plant between Erie and Pittsburgh is going to try it out.
N-Viro International Corp., based in Toledo, Ohio, operates facilities that turn biosolids into fertilizer. Biosolids, more commonly known as sewage sludge, are the solids that are left over after wastewater is treated.
Sewage sludge is a fact of life, but figuring out what to do with it isn’t easy. It’s traditionally dumped in landfills, but that produces methane. Some farmers use treated biosolids for fertilizer, but that’s a controversial practice and still inevitably produces carbon dioxide, says Bob Bohmer, N-Viro VP.
However, N-Viro has developed a way to take biosolids, put them in a thermal dryer and end up with a material with low water content. The result burns at temperatures between 650 and 750 degrees, just like coal. Bohmer says the biosolid fuel can’t entirely replace coal but can significantly cut down on how much is used to generate electricity. It’s been successfully tested at Michigan State University’s power plant.
N-Viro sought another coal-fired power plant to test its technology. A plant near Emlenton (Venango and Clarion Counties), which Bohmer says he’s not allowed to identify yet, was the first taker. Assembly has begun on a unit to turn the sewage sludge into fuel and should be complete within two weeks, he says. N-Viro expects it to start running in November.
Source: Bob Bohmer, N-Viro International Corp.
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen