To meet its energy and sustainability goals, this Native American tribe wanted to develop a regional waste-to-energy facility capable of transforming high-strength waste from regional manufacturing facilities into clean, renewable power. As a key member of the design-build partnership that delivered this regional waste-to-energy combined heat and power (CHP) facility, we provided balance of plant engineering services.
The facility treated 120,000 gallons of high-strength liquid and solid waste trucked in from more than 10 food processing facilities—dairy, beverage, food, and meat manufacturers—in the region. Two 1-million-gallon, high-rate anaerobic digesters biologically treated the organics to generate 700 SCFM of biogas. Specialized equipment filtered, dehumidified, and compressed the biogas, which was used in two internal combustion engines. The CHP facility generated 2 MW of green electricity, which was sold back to the local utility. Up to 185 MMBtu/day of heat was captured and transferred back to the tribe’s casino to reduce utility costs. This project also received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and Focus on Energy.
