\WEE/AWWA Joist Residuals and Bioslide Management Confecenee 2007 DO NOT STOP WHEN YOU ARE AHEAD - OCEAN COUNTY UT AUTHORITY CRITICAL REVIEW OF CURRENT BIOSOLIDS OPERATION Thomas A. Laustsen, P.E., BCEE, Principal Gabrielle Moore, P.E. John F. Donovan, P.E., BCE, Vice President Camp Dresser & McKee Ine. Raritan Plaza I Edison, New Jersey 08818 David J. Ertle, Director of Central Services and Fertilizer Manufacturing Division Peter A. Nese, Project Manager Ocean County Utilities Authority 501 Hickory Lane P.O. Box P Bayville, New Jersey 08721 ABSTRACT ‘The Ocean County Utilities Authority (OCUA) service area is located in one of the fastest growing areas in New Jersey. To address concems on whether the OCUA current biosolids handling practices and the production of a Class A pelletized product would handle future needs, OCUA undertook with the assistance of Camp Dresser & McKee Ine. (CDM), the preparation of an Authority-wide Biosolids Management Plan, ‘The OCUA owns and operates three wastewater treatment plants ranging in size from 20 million gallons a day (MGD) to 32 MGD. The three treatment plants combined produce approximately 9,000 dry tons per year of biosolids. The biosolids at two of the facilities is digested, thickened and hauled to the Central Water Pollution Control Facility where it is blended with their thickened digested biosolids, dewatered and dried using rotary dryers to produce a pellet known as OCEANGRO™. The product is sold to fertilizer manufacturers, bagger blenders, golf courses and retail stores. Some product is provided at little to no cost to area farmers and municipalities. The primary goal of this study was to determine whether OCUA should continue their process of hauling biosolids to the CWPCF, blending, dewatering and drying; or whether some other cost-effective reliable alternative exists that could either supplement or replace the existing process to address future loadings. KEYWORDS Biosolids, Class A pelletized product, drying INTRODUCTION AND CURRENT OPERATIONS ‘The OCUA currently operates three activated sludge wastewater treatment plants: the Northern Water Pollution Control Facility (NWPCF), the Central Water Pollution CCopyight ©2007 Water Environment Kederation, All Right Reserved maa\WEE/AWWA Joist Residuals and Bioslide Management Confecenee 2007 Control Facility (CWPCF), and the Southern Water Pollution Control Facility (SWPCE). ‘The thickened digested biosolids from the NWPCF and the SWPCF is hauled to the CWPCE where it is blended with the CWPCF digested biosolids and processed in the Fertilizer Manufacturing Division (FMD) facilities located at the CWPCF. NORTHERN WATER POLLUTION CONTROL FACILITY The sludge produced by the primary clarifiers at the NWPCF is pumped to concentration tanks. The concentration tanks function as gravity thickeners to increase the solids content of the primary sludge from 2% to between 4 and 5%. The thickened primary sludge is then pumped to the digesters. ‘The Waste Activated Sludge (WAS) is thickened utilizing gravity belt thickeners to increase the solids from approximately 0.5% to 5.5%. Dry polymer is added at a rate of 6 to 7 Ibs/dry ton. The thickened WAS is then pumped to the digesters where it is mixed with the primary sludge and flows into one of four primary digesters. The primary digesters use pump recirculation through the heat exchangers for mixing, and have floating covers. The primary digesters are equipped with a gas mixing system, but this is not used due to existing foaming problems. The biosolids are then transferred the two secondary digesters. The digester gas can be used in the heat exchangers, or in engine generators to produce electricity. Excess digester gas is flared. The digested biosolids is screened using rotary screens. The screened biosolids collects in a hopper, and is then pumped to one of two gravity belt thickeners. Dry polymer is added ata rate of 14 to 15 Ibs/dry ton. The biosolids are thickened from approximately 2% to approximately 9 %, Biosolids are stored in the two gravity belt thickener hoppers and then pumped into hopper bottom trucks for delivery to the CWPCF. The NWPCF utilizes four hopper bottom trucks for transport of biosolids. CENTRAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL FACILITY The sludge produced by the primary clarifiers at the CWPCF is pumped to the digesters. ‘The WAS is thickened utilizing gravity belt thickeners. The gravity belt thickeners are used to increase the solids from approximately 0.5% to approximately 5%. Dry polymer is added at a rate of 4 to 5 Ibs/dry ton, The thickened WAS is then pumped into one of four primary digesters. The primary digesters use lance mixing with gas compressors and have fixed covers. The Aigested shidge overflows to the one digested sludge holding tank, which has no mixing, and is essentially used for storage. Currently, the digester gas is preferentially used in either the engine generators or the boilers. If there is excess gas, itis flared ‘The digested biosolids are screened utilizing rotary screens. The screened biosolids are collected in a tank and then pumped to two of three gravity belt thickeners. Dry polymer is added at a rate of 8 to 9 Ibs/dry ton. The biosolids are thickened from approximately 2% to approximately 6%, The thickened biosolids are then pumped to the thickened CCopyight ©2007 Water Environment Kederation, All Right Reserved ae\WEE/AWWA Joist Residuals and Bioslide Management Confecenee 2007 sludge storage/blend tank, where it is mixed with the biosolids from the NWPCF and SWPCF, SOUTHERN WATER POLLUTION CONTROL FACILITY ‘The sludge produced by the primary clarifiers at the SWPCF is pumped to the digesters. Each primary sludge pump has a grinder on the suction side of the pump. The WAS is screened by one of two rotary drum screens and then thickened utilizing gravity belt thickeners. The gravity belt thickeners are used to increase the solids from approximately 0.5% to approximately 4.5%. Dry polymer is added at a rate of 4 to 5 Ibs/dry ton, ‘The thickened WAS is then pumped into one of the four primary digesters where it is commingled with the primary sludge. The primary digesters use draft tube lance mixing with gas compressors and have floating ‘gas holders (atic space contains gas). The digested sludge overflows to the two secondary digesters, which have no mixing and are essentially used for storage. The secondary digesters have floating covers. Currently, the digester gas is preferentially used in the boilers. If there is excess gas, itis flared. The digested biosolids are pumped to two gravity belt thickeners. Dry polymer is added. ata rate of 8 to 9 Ibs/dry ton, The sludge is thickened from approximately 2% to approximately 8%. The hoppers of the two gravity belt thickeners are used for storage. ‘The thickened sludge is then pumped into smooth bore trucks for shipment to the CWPCE. FERTILIZER MANUFACTURING DIVISION (FMD) FACILITY Digested biosolids generated at the three WPCFs are thickened at the individual plants, dewatered at the CWPCF and then thermally dried to produce OCEANGRO®, a pelletized sludge product suitable for land application. See Figure 1 ‘The FMD contains three Andritz belt filter presses, polymer preparation and feed systems, and two Andritz Model DDS-40 Drying Systems. Each of the dryer systems consists of the following equipment: a dewatered solids storage bin, screw conveyors for conveying wet cake and dry recycled fines, a Lodgie mixer, triple-pass rotary drum dryer with direct fired furnace, pre-separator, poly-cyclone, ID fan, condenser, multi-venturi scrubber, regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO), vibratory screen, roll crusher, fines recycle bin, pellet cooler and pneumatic transport system for conveying product to storage silos. The product is stored in four concrete, 85-foot-high storage silos, each with 14 600 ton capacity. Each of the dryer systems is nominally rated at 8,800 pounds of water evaporation per hour. The thickened solids from the three treatment plants are blended in a storage tank (blend tank) diluted to approximately 4% to 6% solids (to facilitate pumping) and then pumped to the FMD. The thickened solids are dewatered from 17% to 18% solids on belt filter presses and then fed to the drying systems. CCopyight ©2007 Water Environment Kederation, All Right Reserved ms\WEEVAWWA Joit Residuals and Biosolids Management Conference 2007 The blend tank was a secondary digester at CWPCF before it was converted into a thickened sludge storage and blend tank in the late 1980's. Including the cone the tank has a storage capacity of approximately 650,000 gallons, Thickened sludge is pumped from the gravity belt thickener discharge hoppers at CWPCF and from the sludge receiving station, which receives thickened sludge from both the NWPCF and SWPCF, to the tank. The tank is equipped with a fixed cover and a picket type mixing system, Currently there are no provisions for redundancy in thickened sludge storage, and there is no way to bypass the tank without bypass pumping, eee BBG > <8 Coe Pore Thickened Lneoren i itr Press 3 iter Press Hop Wit Materia Wot atria in ‘ain #2 Figure 1— isting Biosolids Handling Practice at OCUA CCopyight €2007 Water Environment Federation, All RightsReserved 1336\WEE/AWWA Joist Residuals and Bioslide Management Confecenee 2007 The dryer system is shown in Figure 2 and its operation is described below. The wet cake is first blended with the dry recycled fines in a low speed, plow share mixer. The mixed feed at 60% to 70% solids concentration is then fed to the inlet of the dryer and conveyed through the dryer by the gas stream generated in the dryer furnace. High temperature combustion gases from the furnace burner are diluted with the dryer exhaust recirculation air to provide a process air stream at a temperature of 800°F to 900°F at the inlet of the dryer. As the wet solids move through the dryer, water is evaporated and the gas temperature drops to approximately 195°F—205°F at the dryer outlet. From the dryer outlet, the process air stream carries the dried biosolids through two air/solids separation devices, a pre-separator and a poly-cyclone, which remove approximately 99% of the solids from the air stream. The gas stream then flows to a direct contact tray condenser where plant effluent is used to cool the air stream to 120°F, thereby condensing out the water evaporated in the dryer. At the condenser outlet, the air stream is split into two portions. Most of the air (85%) is re-circulated to the dryer furnace. The remaining 15% goes through a multi-venturi scrubber for additional removal of particulate matter, followed by a regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO). The RTO raises the temperature of the air stream to a minimum of 1500°F, which destroys volatile organic compounds (VOCS) and odors in the air stream prior to its discharge to the atmosphere. Recirculation of the dryer exhaust accomplishes three important process objectives: it improves the thermal efficiency of the process, it provides a safe, low oxygen condition in the dryer, and it minimizes the size of the RTO and the fuel usage in the RTO. Dryer Exhaust 85% Air Flow. 45% Air Flow 95% Solids Recycled Solids Figure 2 - Exi “lids Drying Practice at OCUA CCopyight ©2007 Water Environment Kederation, All Right Reserved a7\WEE/AWWA Joist Residuals and Bioslide Management Confecenee 2007 The dried solids from the pre-separator and poly-cyclone are screened in a multi-deck vibrating screen which separates the solids into three fractions. The oversize material is sent to a roll crusher for size reduction. Product, i.e. properly sized 1.5 to 2.5 millimeter material, is first cooled to 100°F in a water-cooled, parallel plate heat exchanger and then conveyed to the storage silos. The crushed oversize material and fines are stored in a fines recycle bin, BIOSOLIDS PRODUC’ IN RATES To determine historic sludge production, 2003 and 2004 plant data from OCUA’s water pollution control facilities was evaluated. Table 1 shows actual plant data for average wastewater flow and influent BOD and TSS concentration for each of the three facilities. The loads were calculated using the average wastewater flow and influent BOD and TSS concentrations. The values shown are typical of a service area that is largely residential. Table 1 Historic Flows and Loads Year | Flow BOD TSS ‘med | mgl| Ibid [mg | Iba 2003 [7.49 [212 [13,224 | 189 [711,837 2004 | 7.00 | 235 | 13,713 | 195 | 11,390 Average | 7.25 | 223 | 13,469 | 192 | 11,614 Year | Flow BOD TSS mgd | mgl| b/d [mei | Tod | 2003 [23.11 | 252 [48,570 | 241 [46.450 2004 | 23.94 | 266 | 53,109 | 228 | 45,522 | Average | 23.53 | 259 | 50,840 | 235 | 45,986 ‘Year | Flow BOD TSS mgd |mgl|_tb/d_ [mg | Tb/d 2003_| 22.84 | 263 | 50,060 | 258 [49,202 2004 | 22.53 | 259 | 48,723 | 253 | 47,614 Average | 22.69 | 261 | 49,391 | 256 | 48,408 Based on the average influent BOD and TSS concentrations, the theoretical amount of sludge produced was calculated based on removals expected in primary treatment and using a WAS yield factor. For typical primary treatment, BOD and TSS reductions are expected to be approximately 35% and 60%, respectively. Reductions ean vary depending on detention time and other factors. The typical yield is approximately 0.75 Ib. WAS per pound of BOD removed in secondary treatment, but can range from 0.6 to 1.0 Ib. depending on the characteristics of the waste and the method of treatment. Using CCopyight ©2007 Water Environment Kederation, All Right Reserved ms