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Vermont has a chronic problem with waster water, sewage, and digestate from water treatment facilities. These problems are primarily blamed on untreated municipal waste water. These plants are also a major source of nitrous oxide and other GHC.
I’ve been speaking to others about banning the practice of trucking sewage or wet digestate to land fills 75 to 100 miles away and instead setting up regional facilities that would de-water and pyrolyze it. For example, ~ 20,000 people in Montpelier and Barre (and our suburbs!) might ship by rail to a central facility in Barre, located within an economic development/New markets tax area — financed privately by people with tax-appetite -- and enter an off-taker agreement with an option to buy-out after the tax incentives ended.
I’ve visited Biomass Controls in Connecticut. They work with dairy farms -- but their systems are too small to handle municipal sewage.
I’ve spoken with Aeries which is building a large plant in New Jersey -- but they’re too large.
So here’s my question: can anyone offer comments about the technology offered by Biomass Tech (www.bioforcetech.com), which offers a modular system of rotary dryers and pyrolysis/gas system? They design it to scale, build it in California in ~6 months and assemble and test it before shipping. It is re-assembled on site by a typical commercial construction company.
The system is designed to produce gas, but its big benefit is waste volume reduction, sequestration of pollutants, and elimination of transportation of-site plus tipping fees.
Any comments are appreciated!
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Forty four yrs. ago I put an old 2000 ga. tank on a 10 T farm wagon and pulled hundreds of wagon loads the 2 mi. from Winona's new sewage plant to this farm. It was 6% solids, looked like black oil and turned corn and pastures green, until MPCA warned us that it contained a high rate of PCB's and our dau. was on the way. I mentioned this story a few yrs. ago and Tom Miles told of his involvement with the Milwaukee system. With all of their industry, how do they deal with the toxins? https://www.milorganite.com/using-milorganite/what-is-milorganite
On 12/10/19, Robert Lehmert via Groups.Io <roblehmert=mac.com@groups.io> wrote: Vermont has a chronic problem with waster water, sewage, and digestate from
water treatment facilities. These problems are primarily blamed on untreated
municipal waste water. These plants are also a major source of nitrous oxide
and other GHC.
I’ve been speaking to others about banning the practice of trucking sewage
or wet digestate to land fills 75 to 100 miles away and instead setting up
regional facilities that would de-water and pyrolyze it. For example, ~
20,000 people in Montpelier and Barre (and our suburbs!) might ship by rail
to a central facility in Barre, located within an economic development/New
markets tax area — financed privately by people with tax-appetite -- and
enter an off-taker agreement with an option to buy-out after the tax
incentives ended.
I’ve visited Biomass Controls in Connecticut. They work with dairy farms --
but their systems are too small to handle municipal sewage.
I’ve spoken with Aeries which is building a large plant in New Jersey -- but
they’re too large.
So here’s my question: can anyone offer comments about the technology
offered by Biomass Tech ( *www.bioforcetech.com* ), which offers a modular
system of rotary dryers and pyrolysis/gas system? They design it to scale,
build it in California in ~6 months and assemble and test it before
shipping. It is re-assembled on site by a typical commercial construction
company.
The system is designed to produce gas, but its big benefit is waste volume
reduction, sequestration of pollutants, and elimination of transportation
of-site plus tipping fees.
Any comments are appreciated!
--
Dick Gallien
22501 East Burns Valley Road
Winona MN 55987
dickgallien@gmail.com [507] 312 0194
www.thefarm.winona-mn.us
Prison bars do the confining, allowing the prisoner a mental freedom not
possible in schools, where an endless barrage of assignments, lectures,
questions and tests, serve the same purpose, under the guise of education,
while distracting as efficiently as the cracking of whips, keeping the
imprisoned from discovering and pursuing their passions, or noticing that
there are no real bars------and by the time they might realize the purpose
of their confinement, it is too late.
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I know Biomass Tech has a facility in Redwood City California, but I haven’t seen it yet.
If the char will be used in the soil, the heavy metals in the biosolids are important, they will remain in the char.
jb Sent from my mobile On Dec 10, 2019, at 2:29 PM, Robert Lehmert via Groups.Io <roblehmert@...> wrote:
Vermont has a chronic problem with waster water, sewage, and digestate from water treatment facilities. These problems are primarily blamed on untreated municipal waste water. These plants are also a major source of nitrous oxide and other GHC.
I’ve been speaking to others about banning the practice of trucking sewage or wet digestate to land fills 75 to 100 miles away and instead setting up regional facilities that would de-water and pyrolyze it. For example, ~ 20,000 people in Montpelier and Barre (and our suburbs!) might ship by rail to a central facility in Barre, located within an economic development/New markets tax area — financed privately by people with tax-appetite -- and enter an off-taker agreement with an option to buy-out after the tax incentives ended.
I’ve visited Biomass Controls in Connecticut. They work with dairy farms -- but their systems are too small to handle municipal sewage.
I’ve spoken with Aeries which is building a large plant in New Jersey -- but they’re too large.
So here’s my question: can anyone offer comments about the technology offered by Biomass Tech (www.bioforcetech.com), which offers a modular system of rotary dryers and pyrolysis/gas system? They design it to scale, build it in California in ~6 months and assemble and test it before shipping. It is re-assembled on site by a typical commercial construction company.
The system is designed to produce gas, but its big benefit is waste volume reduction, sequestration of pollutants, and elimination of transportation of-site plus tipping fees.
Any comments are appreciated!
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Bioforcetech in redwood city uses the Pyreg.de technology. Pyreg has about 30 small systems in operation. I think four are processing sewage sludge. There may be more. Bioforcetech has coupled the Pyreg system with their proprietary biological drying system. Not all biosolids contain heavy metals, at least not in toxic concentrations. We have found that biosolids from industrial sources are very different than biosolids from residential sources. USDA Agricultural research Service scientist Steve Vaughn, Research Plant Physiologist at Peoria, Illinois, reviewed biochars from biosolids in a recent paper. He advocates biochar from biosolids for use on golf courses. Jesper Ahrenfeldt, Danish technological University, recently posted information on LinkedIn about Aquagreen, an offshoot from DTU that has developed a system for converting biosolids to biochar. DTU has developed some very useful pyrolysis and gasification technology over the las 25 years. Anaergia, a wastewater treatment company, carbonized dried biosolids for a year in Encinitas, California, using the French Biogreen Energy technology. The condition of the carbonizer looked very good after a year of operation. There were apparently problems with the biosolids dryer. Dryers are the usual problem area with biosolids as we have found on several projects. Andritz makes an excellent biosolids dryer. We found that municipal biosolids dried in an Andritz dryer made the “best” pyrolysis feedstock according to the developer of the carbonizer. We have technology options and knowledge about the composition and use of biochars from biosolids. Let’s put them to work. Tom
From: main@Biochar.groups.io <main@Biochar.groups.io> On Behalf Of Jim Bartlett Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2019 4:17 PM To: main@biochar.groups.io Subject: Re: [Biochar] Pyrolyzing Sewage Sludge & Digestate I know Biomass Tech has a facility in Redwood City California, but I haven’t seen it yet. If the char will be used in the soil, the heavy metals in the biosolids are important, they will remain in the char. jb
On Dec 10, 2019, at 2:29 PM, Robert Lehmert via Groups.Io <roblehmert@...> wrote:
Vermont has a chronic problem with waster water, sewage, and digestate from water treatment facilities. These problems are primarily blamed on untreated municipal waste water. These plants are also a major source of nitrous oxide and other GHC.
I’ve been speaking to others about banning the practice of trucking sewage or wet digestate to land fills 75 to 100 miles away and instead setting up regional facilities that would de-water and pyrolyze it. For example, ~ 20,000 people in Montpelier and Barre (and our suburbs!) might ship by rail to a central facility in Barre, located within an economic development/New markets tax area — financed privately by people with tax-appetite -- and enter an off-taker agreement with an option to buy-out after the tax incentives ended. I’ve visited Biomass Controls in Connecticut. They work with dairy farms -- but their systems are too small to handle municipal sewage.
I’ve spoken with Aeries which is building a large plant in New Jersey -- but they’re too large. So here’s my question: can anyone offer comments about the technology offered by Biomass Tech (www.bioforcetech.com), which offers a modular system of rotary dryers and pyrolysis/gas system? They design it to scale, build it in California in ~6 months and assemble and test it before shipping. It is re-assembled on site by a typical commercial construction company.
The system is designed to produce gas, but its big benefit is waste volume reduction, sequestration of pollutants, and elimination of transportation of-site plus tipping fees.
Any comments are appreciated!
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The new concern with bio-solids is PFAS the ‘forever chemical.’
Concerns grow over tainted sewage sludge spread on croplands
Experts are raising concerns that sewage sludge used as fertilizer around the U.S. could contaminate crops with potentially harmful chemicals
By
JOHN FLESHER and MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press
September 12, 2019, 12:29 PM
For more than 20 years, the eastern Michigan town of Lapeer sent leftover sludge from its sewage treatment plant to area farms, supplying them with high-quality, free fertilizer while avoiding the expense of disposal elsewhere.
But state inspectors ordered a halt to the practice in 2017 after learning the material was laced with one of the potentially harmful chemicals known collectively as PFAS, which are turning up in drinking water and some foods across the U.S…
Paul
On Dec 10, 2019, at 9:25 PM, Tom Miles < tmiles@...> wrote:
Bioforcetech in redwood city uses the Pyreg.de technology. Pyreg has about 30 small systems in operation. I think four are processing sewage sludge. There may be more. Bioforcetech has coupled the Pyreg system with their proprietary biological drying system. Not all biosolids contain heavy metals, at least not in toxic concentrations. We have found that biosolids from industrial sources are very different than biosolids from residential sources. USDA Agricultural research Service scientist Steve Vaughn, Research Plant Physiologist at Peoria, Illinois, reviewed biochars from biosolids in a recent paper. He advocates biochar from biosolids for use on golf courses. Jesper Ahrenfeldt, Danish technological University, recently posted information on LinkedIn about Aquagreen, an offshoot from DTU that has developed a system for converting biosolids to biochar. DTU has developed some very useful pyrolysis and gasification technology over the las 25 years. Anaergia, a wastewater treatment company, carbonized dried biosolids for a year in Encinitas, California, using the French Biogreen Energy technology. The condition of the carbonizer looked very good after a year of operation. There were apparently problems with the biosolids dryer. Dryers are the usual problem area with biosolids as we have found on several projects. Andritz makes an excellent biosolids dryer. We found that municipal biosolids dried in an Andritz dryer made the “best” pyrolysis feedstock according to the developer of the carbonizer. We have technology options and knowledge about the composition and use of biochars from biosolids. Let’s put them to work. Tom
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You will find that there is work on using pyrolysis to treat PFAS especially above 500C. I am sure that we will see more data roll out. T R Miles Technical Consultants Inc. tmiles@... Sent from mobile.
On Dec 10, 2019, at 7:45 PM, pdmac via Groups.Io <pdmac@...> wrote:
The new concern with bio-solids is PFAS the ‘forever chemical.’
Concerns grow over tainted sewage sludge spread on croplands
Experts are raising concerns that sewage sludge used as fertilizer around the U.S. could contaminate crops with potentially harmful chemicals
By
JOHN FLESHER and MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press
September 12, 2019, 12:29 PM
For more than 20 years, the eastern Michigan town of Lapeer sent leftover sludge from its sewage treatment plant to area farms, supplying them with high-quality, free fertilizer while avoiding the expense of disposal elsewhere.
But state inspectors ordered a halt to the practice in 2017 after learning the material was laced with one of the potentially harmful chemicals known collectively as PFAS, which are turning up in drinking water and some foods across the U.S…
Paul
On Dec 10, 2019, at 9:25 PM, Tom Miles < tmiles@...> wrote:
Bioforcetech in redwood city uses the Pyreg.de technology. Pyreg has about 30 small systems in operation. I think four are processing sewage sludge. There may be more. Bioforcetech has coupled the Pyreg system with their proprietary biological drying system. Not all biosolids contain heavy metals, at least not in toxic concentrations. We have found that biosolids from industrial sources are very different than biosolids from residential sources. USDA Agricultural research Service scientist Steve Vaughn, Research Plant Physiologist at Peoria, Illinois, reviewed biochars from biosolids in a recent paper. He advocates biochar from biosolids for use on golf courses. Jesper Ahrenfeldt, Danish technological University, recently posted information on LinkedIn about Aquagreen, an offshoot from DTU that has developed a system for converting biosolids to biochar. DTU has developed some very useful pyrolysis and gasification technology over the las 25 years. Anaergia, a wastewater treatment company, carbonized dried biosolids for a year in Encinitas, California, using the French Biogreen Energy technology. The condition of the carbonizer looked very good after a year of operation. There were apparently problems with the biosolids dryer. Dryers are the usual problem area with biosolids as we have found on several projects. Andritz makes an excellent biosolids dryer. We found that municipal biosolids dried in an Andritz dryer made the “best” pyrolysis feedstock according to the developer of the carbonizer. We have technology options and knowledge about the composition and use of biochars from biosolids. Let’s put them to work. Tom
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Hi Tom, your reply seems to have knocked mine out, but respectfully I suggest mine is worthwhile also, as I always come back to Basic principles. I believe that this is an important topic, the quantities of substance world wide are Huge. There are two ways we currently know of to deal with un-recyclable waste, basically wet or dry. Without prejudice for our favourite method, - Pyrolysis and amending the resultant charcoal, and hopefully using the gas produced to do helpful work, there is also the technique of Aneorobic digestion, - I go back 50 years to the GOBAR GAS units in Gudjerat in India created by the Ghandians at that time, my wife was doing their accounts, and now Many Thousands all over India and China and God knows where else. Simple to say, Wet for Aneorobic Dry for Aerobic, and this is not the time in the evolution of humankind that we support one or the other like a football team, we must support the Best option. So, assuming that wet sewage is, as seems, best for aneorobic digestion, yet has been poisoned by the ever present maniacal 701 Billionaires America is struggling to support in their Aristocratic lifestyle, what is the best way to remove those poisons? Again, two ways seem to offer, Dry then Pyrolise the sewage, or, Add charcoal to the digestate. Consequences that I see, Pyrolising the digestate requires a lot of energy, and also destroys a lot of helpful chemicals such as nitrogen in that digestate and the Micro - organisms also, - always a major factor, but does it destroy/remove the poisons? or if not, does the charcoal/biochar destroy/sequester the poisons? (which) and, a third and vital question arises, what happens with the poisons then? Hoping to help by removing any rivalry, we have zero time for that.
On 11 Dec 2019, at 2:42 pm, Tom Miles < tmiles@...> wrote:
You will find that there is work on using pyrolysis to treat PFAS especially above 500C. I am sure that we will see more data roll out. T R Miles Technical Consultants Inc. On Dec 10, 2019, at 7:45 PM, pdmac via Groups.Io <pdmac@...> wrote:
The new concern with bio-solids is PFAS the ‘forever chemical.’
Concerns grow over tainted sewage sludge spread on croplands
Experts are raising concerns that sewage sludge used as fertilizer around the U.S. could contaminate crops with potentially harmful chemicals
By
JOHN FLESHER and MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press
September 12, 2019, 12:29 PM
For more than 20 years, the eastern Michigan town of Lapeer sent leftover sludge from its sewage treatment plant to area farms, supplying them with high-quality, free fertilizer while avoiding the expense of disposal elsewhere.
But state inspectors ordered a halt to the practice in 2017 after learning the material was laced with one of the potentially harmful chemicals known collectively as PFAS, which are turning up in drinking water and some foods across the U.S…
Paul
On Dec 10, 2019, at 9:25 PM, Tom Miles < tmiles@...> wrote:
Bioforcetech in redwood city uses the Pyreg.de technology. Pyreg has about 30 small systems in operation. I think four are processing sewage sludge. There may be more. Bioforcetech has coupled the Pyreg system with their proprietary biological drying system. Not all biosolids contain heavy metals, at least not in toxic concentrations. We have found that biosolids from industrial sources are very different than biosolids from residential sources. USDA Agricultural research Service scientist Steve Vaughn, Research Plant Physiologist at Peoria, Illinois, reviewed biochars from biosolids in a recent paper. He advocates biochar from biosolids for use on golf courses. Jesper Ahrenfeldt, Danish technological University, recently posted information on LinkedIn about Aquagreen, an offshoot from DTU that has developed a system for converting biosolids to biochar. DTU has developed some very useful pyrolysis and gasification technology over the las 25 years. Anaergia, a wastewater treatment company, carbonized dried biosolids for a year in Encinitas, California, using the French Biogreen Energy technology. The condition of the carbonizer looked very good after a year of operation. There were apparently problems with the biosolids dryer. Dryers are the usual problem area with biosolids as we have found on several projects. Andritz makes an excellent biosolids dryer. We found that municipal biosolids dried in an Andritz dryer made the “best” pyrolysis feedstock according to the developer of the carbonizer. We have technology options and knowledge about the composition and use of biochars from biosolids. Let’s put them to work. Tom
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AD makes sense and is usually the first stage of treatment. Convert the volatiles to gas and deal with the digestate. Or use hydrothermal processes which have also proven useful with PFAS and make useful Biochars. Biosolids chars are usually 10-20% carbon so the mineral composition is key.
Tom T R Miles Technical Consultants Inc. tmiles@... Sent from mobile.
On Dec 10, 2019, at 8:55 PM, Geoff Thomas <wind@...> wrote:
Hi Tom, your reply seems to have knocked mine out, but respectfully I suggest mine is worthwhile also, as I always come back to Basic principles. I believe that this is an important topic, the quantities of substance world wide are Huge. There are two ways we currently know of to deal with un-recyclable waste, basically wet or dry. Without prejudice for our favourite method, - Pyrolysis and amending the resultant charcoal, and hopefully using the gas produced to do helpful work, there is also the technique of Aneorobic digestion, - I go back 50 years to the GOBAR GAS units in Gudjerat in India created by the Ghandians at that time, my wife was doing their accounts, and now Many Thousands all over India and China and God knows where else. Simple to say, Wet for Aneorobic Dry for Aerobic, and this is not the time in the evolution of humankind that we support one or the other like a football team, we must support the Best option. So, assuming that wet sewage is, as seems, best for aneorobic digestion, yet has been poisoned by the ever present maniacal 701 Billionaires America is struggling to support in their Aristocratic lifestyle, what is the best way to remove those poisons? Again, two ways seem to offer, Dry then Pyrolise the sewage, or, Add charcoal to the digestate. Consequences that I see, Pyrolising the digestate requires a lot of energy, and also destroys a lot of helpful chemicals such as nitrogen in that digestate and the Micro - organisms also, - always a major factor, but does it destroy/remove the poisons? or if not, does the charcoal/biochar destroy/sequester the poisons? (which) and, a third and vital question arises, what happens with the poisons then? Hoping to help by removing any rivalry, we have zero time for that.
On 11 Dec 2019, at 2:42 pm, Tom Miles < tmiles@...> wrote:
You will find that there is work on using pyrolysis to treat PFAS especially above 500C. I am sure that we will see more data roll out. T R Miles Technical Consultants Inc. On Dec 10, 2019, at 7:45 PM, pdmac via Groups.Io <pdmac@...> wrote:
The new concern with bio-solids is PFAS the ‘forever chemical.’
Concerns grow over tainted sewage sludge spread on croplands
Experts are raising concerns that sewage sludge used as fertilizer around the U.S. could contaminate crops with potentially harmful chemicals
By
JOHN FLESHER and MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press
September 12, 2019, 12:29 PM
For more than 20 years, the eastern Michigan town of Lapeer sent leftover sludge from its sewage treatment plant to area farms, supplying them with high-quality, free fertilizer while avoiding the expense of disposal elsewhere.
But state inspectors ordered a halt to the practice in 2017 after learning the material was laced with one of the potentially harmful chemicals known collectively as PFAS, which are turning up in drinking water and some foods across the U.S…
Paul
On Dec 10, 2019, at 9:25 PM, Tom Miles < tmiles@...> wrote:
Bioforcetech in redwood city uses the Pyreg.de technology. Pyreg has about 30 small systems in operation. I think four are processing sewage sludge. There may be more. Bioforcetech has coupled the Pyreg system with their proprietary biological drying system. Not all biosolids contain heavy metals, at least not in toxic concentrations. We have found that biosolids from industrial sources are very different than biosolids from residential sources. USDA Agricultural research Service scientist Steve Vaughn, Research Plant Physiologist at Peoria, Illinois, reviewed biochars from biosolids in a recent paper. He advocates biochar from biosolids for use on golf courses. Jesper Ahrenfeldt, Danish technological University, recently posted information on LinkedIn about Aquagreen, an offshoot from DTU that has developed a system for converting biosolids to biochar. DTU has developed some very useful pyrolysis and gasification technology over the las 25 years. Anaergia, a wastewater treatment company, carbonized dried biosolids for a year in Encinitas, California, using the French Biogreen Energy technology. The condition of the carbonizer looked very good after a year of operation. There were apparently problems with the biosolids dryer. Dryers are the usual problem area with biosolids as we have found on several projects. Andritz makes an excellent biosolids dryer. We found that municipal biosolids dried in an Andritz dryer made the “best” pyrolysis feedstock according to the developer of the carbonizer. We have technology options and knowledge about the composition and use of biochars from biosolids. Let’s put them to work. Tom
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Ta Tom, what does AD stand for please?
On 11 Dec 2019, at 2:42 pm, Tom Miles < tmiles@...> wrote:
You will find that there is work on using pyrolysis to treat PFAS especially above 500C. I am sure that we will see more data roll out. T R Miles Technical Consultants Inc. On Dec 10, 2019, at 7:45 PM, pdmac via Groups.Io <pdmac@...> wrote:
The new concern with bio-solids is PFAS the ‘forever chemical.’
Concerns grow over tainted sewage sludge spread on croplands
Experts are raising concerns that sewage sludge used as fertilizer around the U.S. could contaminate crops with potentially harmful chemicals
By
JOHN FLESHER and MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press
September 12, 2019, 12:29 PM
For more than 20 years, the eastern Michigan town of Lapeer sent leftover sludge from its sewage treatment plant to area farms, supplying them with high-quality, free fertilizer while avoiding the expense of disposal elsewhere.
But state inspectors ordered a halt to the practice in 2017 after learning the material was laced with one of the potentially harmful chemicals known collectively as PFAS, which are turning up in drinking water and some foods across the U.S…
Paul
On Dec 10, 2019, at 9:25 PM, Tom Miles < tmiles@...> wrote:
Bioforcetech in redwood city uses the Pyreg.de technology. Pyreg has about 30 small systems in operation. I think four are processing sewage sludge. There may be more. Bioforcetech has coupled the Pyreg system with their proprietary biological drying system. Not all biosolids contain heavy metals, at least not in toxic concentrations. We have found that biosolids from industrial sources are very different than biosolids from residential sources. USDA Agricultural research Service scientist Steve Vaughn, Research Plant Physiologist at Peoria, Illinois, reviewed biochars from biosolids in a recent paper. He advocates biochar from biosolids for use on golf courses. Jesper Ahrenfeldt, Danish technological University, recently posted information on LinkedIn about Aquagreen, an offshoot from DTU that has developed a system for converting biosolids to biochar. DTU has developed some very useful pyrolysis and gasification technology over the las 25 years. Anaergia, a wastewater treatment company, carbonized dried biosolids for a year in Encinitas, California, using the French Biogreen Energy technology. The condition of the carbonizer looked very good after a year of operation. There were apparently problems with the biosolids dryer. Dryers are the usual problem area with biosolids as we have found on several projects. Andritz makes an excellent biosolids dryer. We found that municipal biosolids dried in an Andritz dryer made the “best” pyrolysis feedstock according to the developer of the carbonizer. We have technology options and knowledge about the composition and use of biochars from biosolids. Let’s put them to work. Tom
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Anaerobic Digestion T R Miles Technical Consultants Inc. tmiles@... Sent from mobile.
On Dec 10, 2019, at 9:47 PM, Geoff Thomas <wind@...> wrote:
Ta Tom, what does AD stand for please? On 11 Dec 2019, at 2:42 pm, Tom Miles < tmiles@...> wrote:
You will find that there is work on using pyrolysis to treat PFAS especially above 500C. I am sure that we will see more data roll out. T R Miles Technical Consultants Inc. On Dec 10, 2019, at 7:45 PM, pdmac via Groups.Io <pdmac@...> wrote:
The new concern with bio-solids is PFAS the ‘forever chemical.’
Concerns grow over tainted sewage sludge spread on croplands
Experts are raising concerns that sewage sludge used as fertilizer around the U.S. could contaminate crops with potentially harmful chemicals
By
JOHN FLESHER and MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press
September 12, 2019, 12:29 PM
For more than 20 years, the eastern Michigan town of Lapeer sent leftover sludge from its sewage treatment plant to area farms, supplying them with high-quality, free fertilizer while avoiding the expense of disposal elsewhere.
But state inspectors ordered a halt to the practice in 2017 after learning the material was laced with one of the potentially harmful chemicals known collectively as PFAS, which are turning up in drinking water and some foods across the U.S…
Paul
On Dec 10, 2019, at 9:25 PM, Tom Miles < tmiles@...> wrote:
Bioforcetech in redwood city uses the Pyreg.de technology. Pyreg has about 30 small systems in operation. I think four are processing sewage sludge. There may be more. Bioforcetech has coupled the Pyreg system with their proprietary biological drying system. Not all biosolids contain heavy metals, at least not in toxic concentrations. We have found that biosolids from industrial sources are very different than biosolids from residential sources. USDA Agricultural research Service scientist Steve Vaughn, Research Plant Physiologist at Peoria, Illinois, reviewed biochars from biosolids in a recent paper. He advocates biochar from biosolids for use on golf courses. Jesper Ahrenfeldt, Danish technological University, recently posted information on LinkedIn about Aquagreen, an offshoot from DTU that has developed a system for converting biosolids to biochar. DTU has developed some very useful pyrolysis and gasification technology over the las 25 years. Anaergia, a wastewater treatment company, carbonized dried biosolids for a year in Encinitas, California, using the French Biogreen Energy technology. The condition of the carbonizer looked very good after a year of operation. There were apparently problems with the biosolids dryer. Dryers are the usual problem area with biosolids as we have found on several projects. Andritz makes an excellent biosolids dryer. We found that municipal biosolids dried in an Andritz dryer made the “best” pyrolysis feedstock according to the developer of the carbonizer. We have technology options and knowledge about the composition and use of biochars from biosolids. Let’s put them to work. Tom
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