Thermal sludge dryer demonstration: Bird Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, Buffalo, NY. Final report

Technical Report · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/41299· OSTI ID:41299

The Buffalo Sewer Authority (BSA), in cooperation with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (Energy Authority), commissioned a demonstration of a full scale indirect disk-type sludge dryer at the Bird Island Wastewater Treatment Plant (BIWWTP). The purpose of the project was to determine the effects of the sludge dryer on the sludge incineration process at the facility. Sludge incineration is traditionally the most expensive, energy-intensive unit process involving solids handling at wastewater treatment plants; costs for incineration at the BIWWTP have averaged $2.4 million per year. In the conventional method of processing solids, a series of volume reduction measures, which usually includes thickening, digestion, and mechanical dewatering, is employed prior to incineration. Usually, a high level of moisture is still present within sewage sludge following mechanical dewatering. The sludge dryer system thermally dewaters wastewater sludge to approximately 26%, (and as high as 38%) dry solids content prior to incineration. The thermal dewatering system at the BIWWTP has demonstrated that it meets its design requirements. It has the potential to provide significant energy and other cost savings by allowing the BSA to change from an operation employing two incinerators to a single incinerator mode. While the long-term reliability of the thermal dewatering system has yet to be established, this project has demonstrated that installation of such a system in an existing treatment plant can provide the owner with significant operating cost savings.

• Research Organization: New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, New York, NY (United States); Buffalo Sewer Authority, NY (United States); Nussbaumer and Clark, Inc., Buffalo, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Albany, NY (United States)
• OSTI ID: 41299
• Report Number(s): NYSERDA--95-4; ON: TI95008744
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
COMBUSTION PROPERTIES
COMPILED DATA
DATA ANALYSIS
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
DESIGN
DRYERS
DRYING
ECONOMICS
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ENGINEERING DRAWINGS
FLOWSHEETS
HEAT RECOVERY
MONITORING
NEW YORK
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PROGRESS REPORT
RECOMMENDATIONS
SLUDGES
WASTE HEAT
WATER TREATMENT PLANTS