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Wednesday
Mar282012

Anaerobic Digester Community Meeting 3/27

Mayor Finch presenting the advantages of an anaerobic digester.Last night, the Mayor and City Staff were greeted with supportive feedback over the prospect of adding a progressive waste-to-energy facility in the South End of Bridgeport.  The facility would convert sewage sludge into natural gas for energy.  

How it works:
Whenever you flush anything down the drain in Bridgeport, it goes to one of two water treatment facilities in the City.  That wastewater is treated and separated into clean water, which is released into the Sound, and sewage sludge that is trucked off to a disposal facility in New Haven.
Instead of trucking waste to New Haven, the digester puts the sewage sludge in a sealed container where bacteria breaks it down.  Methane gas is produced and harnessed as an energy source.  The gas can be used to produce electricity, heat homes, or even power vehicles.
 
This diagram below illustrates how the process works:
Biosolids, or sewage sludge, enters the digester's mixing chamber and exits as digester gas or methane gas.
The Savings:
Switching to this method of generating gas has major savings for the city.  Bridgeport currently spends $800,000 on trucking fees and $1.53 Million on disposal fees to bring sewage sludge to New Haven’s disposal facility.   Diverting part of the waste stream to the proposed anaerobic digester would save $550,000 (or 69%) in trucking fees and $530,000 (or 35%) in disposal fees.  
This would also decrease CO2 emissions by 400 metric tons (the equivalent of burning 40,681 gallons of gasoline) while generating $450,000 worth of energy.  The facility would create 4 to 6 permanent jobs and 50+ short-term construction jobs in the South End.

 


The anaerobic digester will be located adjacent to the waste water treatment facility.

The process has existed for over a hundred years and is common in parts of Europe and India according to Richard Erickson.

For more about the anaerobic digester and other projects in the South End Energy Improvement District Click Here.

 

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