Digester gas utilization at West-Southwest Sewage Treatment Works. Final technical report

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5137075· OSTI ID:5137075

The physical site and operation of the West Southwest Sewage Treatment Works of the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago are described. Over a billion gallons of sewage is handled each day. Influent is screened to remove large debris, flows through preliminary settling tanks to separate most suspended and floating scum solids, passes through aeration tanks which assist biological decomposition of remaining impurities, and is allowed to settle again before chlorination and/or discharge to the waterway. Sludges collected during the process are mixed with scum and ground screenings, concentrated by gravity or mechanical means, and, in the case pertinent to the subject project, are fed to digestion tanks where the action of anaerobic bacteria generates heat and combustible gas, primarily methane. Digested sludge can be further concentrated and disposed of by application on strip mined land. Gas generated during anaerobic digestion has averaged approximately 2.7 million standard cubic feet per day. Of this amount, 1.7 million SCF per day is used keeping the digesters heated to the proper temperature for the bacteria to thrive. The excess 1.0 million SCF per day is piped from the digesters and burned to supply power for low pressure steam generator.

• Research Organization: Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago, IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: FG02-79R510110
• OSTI ID: 5137075
• Report Number(s): DOE/R5/10110-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
090122 -- Hydrocarbon Fuels-- Preparation from Wastes or Biomass-- (1976-1989)
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320604* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Municipalities & Community Systems-- Municipal Waste Management-- (1980-)
ALKANES
ANAEROBIC DIGESTION
ANIMAL FEEDS
BIOCONVERSION
BIOSYNTHESIS
CHEMICAL REACTION YIELD
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHICAGO
CHLORINATION
DIGESTION
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
FILTRATION
FLOTATION
FOOD
GREAT LAKES REGION
HALOGENATION
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
ILLINOIS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
LIQUID WASTES
MANAGEMENT
METHANE
MUNICIPAL WASTES
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PROCESSING
SEDIMENTATION
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SEWAGE
SEWAGE SLUDGE
SYNTHESIS
USA
VOLUME
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTE PROCESSING PLANTS
WASTE PRODUCT UTILIZATION
WASTE WATER
WASTES
WATER
WATER QUALITY
YIELDS