Comments on: Meet Your Friendly Neighborhood Sewage Treatment Plant

By: Michael Dalton

Michael Dalton — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 04:41:35 +0000

How much would it cost to build a plant like the one in the state of Washington i know it sounds funny but I am for real Thank You Michael

By: Tina Casey

Tina Casey — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 22:32:41 +0000

Charles: I respect your point of view but from my perspective, the full tagline “Cleantech innovation: we are as gods so we might as well get good at it” is open to interpretation. Personally, I don’t think there is an ounce of hubris in that line. I take it mean that, for whatever reason, we humans have gained the ability to exercise some pretty incredible creative powers, and along with that comes the realization that in some respects we hold the fate of the world in our hands. That is a fact, not a wish or a dream, and there is no sense in denying it or refusing to see the consequences of human action. As a side point, the word “gods” is not capitalized in the tagline, as it is in your comment.

By: Charles Randall

Charles Randall — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 09:14:58 +0000

I am apalled at the arrogance of your strapline at the top “We are as Gods”, this is offensive to many Christians and people of other faiths.
There are so many examples in literature, both Greek and Christian, where this kind of hubris leads to disaster, that I would have thought you would not wish for that association of ideas.

Regards,

Charles Randall

By: Tim Robinson

Tim Robinson — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:35:50 +0000

Hi Tina–

I just read your article about sewage treatment plants, “Meet Your Friendly Neighborhood Sewage Treatment Plant,” and must say that I’m happy to see wastewater treatment facilities getting some much needed attention. I don’t think the general public fully understands all the good things these treatment plants do. You included a lot of great examples in your article, and I want to throw one more your way–energy generation. You’ve written about the potential value of biogas to energy–predominantly in the agricultural context–but many wastewater treatment plants across the US are using anaerobic digestion to create biogas, and then simply flaring the gas into the atmosphere, untreated and unutilized. With a relatively simple conditioning process, these facilities can create an energy source that is free, clean, reliable and readily available. By implementing a biogas conditioning solution, waste treatment facilities can turn methane, a dangerous air pollutant, into a carbon-neutral, sustainable fuel.

A great example of this is the City of Tulare, CA. In 2006 Tulare took on the task of upgrading its wastewater treatment facility and cleaned up its biogas to cut down on greenhouse emissions to comply with increasingly tough California pollution standards and to find a more economical way to power the facility. The facility used fuel cells to convert the unwanted biogas into energy that powers the plant. Fuel cells require absolutely clean, untainted gas to operate, which required a carefully designed biogas conditioning system to protect the facility’s investment and ensure reliable, clean power flowed continuously from the project. The installation saved the facility more than $135,000 in energy costs in the first year. Tulare also won a 2009 Clean Air Excellence Award from the Environmental Protection Agency, became an EPA Green Power Partner, and in 2009 was ranked as 17th largest onsite renewable energy producer in the U.S.

I work for Applied Filter Technology–the pioneer in the biogas-to-energy field–and would be happy to talk to you further about the challenges facing wastewater treatment plants, how they can transition from flaring and polluting to creating a truly renewable energy source, and share some customer stories with you. Let me know if you are interested.

Thanks,

Tim Robinson, Chief Operating Officer, Applied Filter Technology

tim@appliedfilter.com