$32 Million Waste Treatment, Recycling Facility Opens in Pontiac, MI

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): A new $32 million waste treatment facility is now online in Pontiac, turning byproduct of wastewater into fertilizer and creating energy to run the machines inside.The project has been under construction at the Clinton River Water Resource Recovery Facility on Opdyke Road since 2017. The Oakland County Water Resources Commission held a ribbon cutting for the facility on Thursday, Sept. 24.

It’s one of only three waste treatment plans in the country that utilizes thermal hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion to transform the residual sludge left behind from treated water. The thermal hydrolysis pretreatment consists of conditioning waste solids prior to anaerobic digestion, using high temperatures and pressure to create a material that will degrade at a faster pace, according to the commission. Anaerobic digestion is a biological process where microorganisms break down the material in an environment without oxygen. What’s left is methane, which will be used for energy, and biosolids which can be sold as fertilizer.

Jim Nash, water resources commissioner, said the building is an important step to fighting climate change locally and reducing the cost of treating waste. “It used to take us 20 days to process a load and create methane. Now we can do it in four days. That’s four times more methane we’re producing, which will be used to replace the fossil fuels that run this plant,” Nash said. “We’re saving money and creating a better environment.”

Courtesy: www.wasteadvantage.com