https://www.eaglevalleynews.com/news/video-inside-look-at-b-c-biofuel-facility-that-turns-food-to-fuel/
[video, images, links in on-line article]
VIDEO: Inside look at B.C. biofuel facility that turns food to fuel
City of Surrey says project is a ‘milestone’ in municipal waste management
Amy ReidMar. 9, 2018 10:00 a.m.
SURREY — Rob Costanzo pointed to a massive pile of compost inside the
Surrey Biofuel Facility.
“This was all leftovers on a dinner plate,” he said, picking up a
handful while giving the Now-Leader an exclusive tour of the Port Kells
facility in January.
The manager of the biofuel project, which opens today, said making the
vision a reality has been no small feat.
“It’s a euphoric feeling,” said Costanzo.
“We’re really fortunate… this project would not have been possible
without the support of council. Projects like this are always tricky
because they’re leading edge, but someone has to grab the bull by the
horns and be the first to lead the project. It’s not for the faint of heart.
“It’s really quite impressive,” he elaborated. “It’s a neat-looking
facility. That story in terms of what we’re doing with the waste really
resonates with people we speak to. We’re very proud.”
Costanzo described the project as a “milestone” in municipal waste
management.
“What we’re doing here in Surrey is taking waste from curb side, organic
waste, and converting that waste into renewable natural gas, and that
gas is going to be used to fuel the garbage trucks that collect the
waste at curb side, creating that closed loop system.”
Costanzo said it’s the first true “closed-loop” system in North America.
“We’re also going to be producing compost material,” he added.
“That material will be sold to local food growers who are going to grow
fruits and vegetables that will end up back on the dinner plate,
eventually will end up back in the compost bin collected at curb side,
and brought back to this facility to start the process all over again,”
said Costanzo.
“This facility is a real poster child for the circular economy. We’re
immensely proud of our accomplishments.”
And, Costanzo added proudly that the facility is not going to cost the
Surrey taxpayer one dime.
“This facility is being delivered without having to increase municipal
taxes,” he said.
“The 2017 solid waste levy was $287 per household and remains at $287 in
2018.”
The facility is located on city-owned property, but was designed,
financed and will be operated under a 25-year partnership agreement with
a UK-based company, Renewi.
The facility cost approximately $68 million, with the federal government
contributing 25 per cent ($16.9 million) and Renewi footing the
remainder of the bill.
Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner said the facility has “established a new
sustainability benchmark in Canada with a world-class facility that
converts organic waste into renewable energy.”
She noted it will be “instrumental in reducing community-wide greenhouse
gas by approximately 49,000 tonnes per year, which is the equivalent of
taking over 10,000 cars off the road annually.”
“This reduction in greenhouse emissions will completely eliminate the
City of Surrey corporate carbon foot print of 17,000 tonnes per year,”
Hepner said, noting that includes emissions from civic buildings and the
city’s fleet.
“The biofuel facility will also be a destination for school groups to
come visit and learn how organic waste is turned into renewable gas and
nutrient rich compost,” she added.
“That is why we have included a learning centre and compost garden as
part of the original vision for this project.”
Surrey’s waste diversion history
In the past 10 years, the City of Surrey reports a jump in waste
diversion from 38 to 70 per cent.
In 2007, the City of Surrey’s curb side collection program was picking
up waste from roughly 90,000 households and delivering 69,000 tonnes of
garbage a year to the landfill, with about 43,000 tonnes of organic
waste and recycling being diverted from the dump.
Fast forward to 2017 and despite picking up waste from more households a
year (104,000), only 42,000 tonnes of garbage ended up at the landfill,
and 99,000 organic waste and recyclables were diverted.
The city launched its new “Rethink Waste” program in late 2012, which is
the three-bin system that exists today. It means garbage is picked up
less frequently, only once every two weeks, but organic waste and
recycling is picked up more often.
“That’s when we went up to 70 per cent literally overnight,” said
Costanzo. “The response was significant.”
Now, with the biofuel facility officially in operation, the city can do
even better, he said. “Once we start using the renewable natural gas
produced at our biofuel facility, we will be 100 per cent cleaner than
diesel and the first municipality in North America to be running a 100
per cent carbon neutral municipal waste collection fleet.”
The site will also help regionally, noted Costanzo.
“We’re generating more organic waste than we actually have processing
capacity for (in Metro Vancouver),” he said. “As we ramp up with more
sectors being required to divert their organic waste, a number of
municipalities are having to truck it a far distance outside of the
region…. (The biofuel site) will provide some much-needed relief.”
Costanzo said the Surrey site will be able to process 115,000 tonnes of
organic waste a year, and the city only collects about 65,000, meaning
it could take organic waste from other areas in the region.
“But as we continue to grow, we’ll have that capacity reserved for the
city, displacing other entities,” he noted.
Estimates suggest Surrey will be closer to 90,000 metric tonnes by 2043,
when the 25-year partnership with Renewi is set to end.
“What I predict is this facility really sets the bar high and others
will follow suit,” he mused. “We’re gaining a lot of interest from
municipalities from just about everywhere.”
While the renewable natural gas produced at the biofuel facility will be
used to fuel garbage trucks, there will be some left over, Costanzo
explained. The city uses about 80,000 gigajoules of gas for its garbage
trucks and municipal fleet, and the biofuel facility is expected to
produce about 120,000.
“Excess gas we may use in some of our civic buildings, in the district
energy system on an interim basis, but as we continue to grow our fleet,
we will utilize more gas in our fleet. That’s where you get the biggest
bang for your buck – using it to replace gas or diesel… The cost of
this gas is significantly lower.” Any gas that’s not used will be sold
back to Fortis BC, he noted, “which is straight revenue.”
Biofuel won’t cause a stink, city says
But what about the smell?
While several local compost plants in the region have been making
headlines for all the wrong reasons lately, Surrey vows its biofuel
facility won’t cause a stink.
Costanzo says that every effort has gone into ensuring Surrey’s facility
doesn’t emit foul odours.
“It was paramount. This facility, we would not go forward with it unless
we had world-class technology to deal with odour,” he said, noting the
site is located immediately adjacent to other properties. “Standing
outside, you can’t smell what’s happening inside.”
The technology keeps the facility under continuous negative air
pressure, 24/7.
“This means that the air is being continuously drawn into the facility.
The only emission coming out of the facility is warm air water vapour
coming out of the 70 metre stack,” Costanzo said.
“All the air within the facility is channeled though an ammonia scrubber
which significantly reduces odours. The air is then cooled and
humidified before it’s forced through a series of wood chip biofilters
where remaining offensive odours are removed.”
A final “sniff test” is done on the roof.
Renewi, which will be operating the Surrey Biofuel Facility, has 10
other sites across the globe.
“This state-of-the-art facility shows exactly how we’ve been able to use
our international experience and innovation to create the largest
integrated waste management facility in North America,” said James
Priestly, managing director of Renewi’s municipal division.
“The facility brings our ‘waste no more’ vision to life… It is this
waste-to-product approach which we are very passionate about and I’m
delighted to see it coming to life here, at this flagship facility in
Surrey.”
The Surrey Biofuel is located at 9752 192nd St., next to the Surrey
Transfer Station.
See more about the facility surreybiofuel.ca.
Click here to learn more about odour abatement at the site.
How does it all work?
Once organic waste arrives at the facility it will enter “anaerobic
digestion (AD) tunnels” that are sealed shut with airtight doors.
Oxygen is removed from the tunnels and purged with CO2.
The waste is then sprayed with a bacteria-rich “leachate” (liquids
recovered from the curbside organic waste) and the AD process starts,
which takes about 30 days.
AD is process where microorganisms that thrive in zero oxygen
environments break down organic matter producing raw biogas.
That biogas is compressed and fed into a “scrubber,” where it’s showered
with water which captures the methane and washes out impurities. Methane
not captured is “flashed off’ in a flash tank and recovered.
Water from the flash tank is pumped into a stripper where CO2 is
separated from the H2O.
The water circulates back to be reused in the scrubber and the CO2 is
recovered for use back in the AD tunnels to help with the initial raw
biogas production.
The finished clean biogas is then dried and injected into the Fortis BC
natural gas grid.
After 30 days of sitting in the AD tunnels producing biogas, the waste
material is moved to composting tunnels where oxygen is continuously
pumped into the material creating an “aerobic” process.
A different set of microorganisms eat the organic waste, breaking it
down into its simplest components.
The finished compost they produce is rich with fibre and inorganic
nutrients, such as phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen, and it makes a
natural fertilizer.
This process takes another 20 days or so.
The finished compost is screened to remove contaminants and the final
product is transported off-site where it’s packaged as fertilizer or
blended with other materials.
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http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/surrey-opens-new-facility-that-turns-organics-into-natural-gas
[images in on-line article]
Surrey opens new facility that turns organics into natural gas
Jennifer Saltman Jennifer Saltman
Published on: March 9, 2018 | Last Updated: March 9, 2018 5:14 PM PST
The big disposal trucks that trundle through Surrey neighbourhoods
picking up organic waste each week will soon be powered by the grass
clippings and food scraps that they collect.
The 65,000 tonnes of organics that Surrey residents leave at the curb
each year will be turned into renewable natural gas at the new Surrey
Biofuel Facility, which officially opened in the Port Kells industrial
area on Friday.
“This latest project, I believe, shows that the City of Surrey is a
leader when it comes to sustainability, and when it comes to smart
initiatives,” said Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner.
The $68-million facility is the first fully integrated, closed-loop
organic waste management system in North America.
The facility has the capacity to divert 115,000 tonnes of organic waste
from the landfill, although at the start it will only process organics
from Surrey. Hepner said the city will be able to accept waste from
commercial operations or other municipalities.
“We fully expect to see others knocking on our door very soon,” said Hepner.
It is expected that the facility will also produce about 45,000 tonnes
of compost each year, which is suitable for gardening and agricultural
purposes, and will be used in city parks and boulevards.
Surrey’s greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by about 49,000 tonnes
per year, according to the city, the equivalent of taking 10,000 cars
off the road. The city’s corporate carbon footprint is 17,000 tonnes of
greenhouse gases per year.
The project was financed by a public-private partnership, that saw the
federal government kick in 25 per cent of the capital costs ($17
million) and Renewi has financed the rest. The United Kingdom-based
company designed and built the facility, and will operate and maintain
it for 25 years. The city owns the facility and the land upon which it
was built.
“This is now one of P3 Canada’s flagship projects,” said Ken Hardie, MP
for Fleetwood-Port Kells.
Rob Costanzo, the city’s general manager of corporate services, said the
city is repaying Renewi through tipping fees that will be charged for
each load of organic waste that is dumped at the facility. Hepner said
the disposal rate is within current market rates and is locked in for 25
years.
Those fees are balanced by natural gas sales. The city will own 100 per
cent of the natural gas produced at the facility, and whatever the city
does not use to power its fleet or energy system, it will sell to Fortis
B.C. Hepner said it is the first agreement of its kind with Fortis in
B.C., and any money made will go back to the city.
The city and Renewi have an agreement with respect to the minimum amount
of waste that must be provided to the facility each year (about 57,000
tonnes) and the minimum amount of natural gas Renewi must produce
(100,000 gigajoules).
Odour is not expected to be an issue at the facility like it has been at
other operations, such as Harvest Power in Richmond. Surrey is using
state-of-the-art mitigation measures — such as a powerful filtration
system that creates negative air pressure within the building, an
ammonia scrubber, biofilters and a 70-metre-high stack — that should
keep odours within the building.
“One-third of the cost of building this was spent on ensuring that the
odour control is there,” said Hepner.
The facility is opening almost a year behind schedule. Hepner said there
were some issues to be resolved with respect to the construction, and it
took several months to slowly build the capacity of the building’s
anaerobic digesters.
“That goes to the fact that we wanted to make sure that this project was
going to be a success right from the beginning, to make sure that there
were no hiccups,” Hepner said. “We took our time.”
• The facility was chosen as the most recent recipient of the Institute
for Sustainable Infrastructure’s Envision Platinum award. It’s the first
waste sector infrastructure project in North America and the third
Canadian project overall to win the award, which takes into account the
environmental, social and economic impacts of a project.