The new patent-pending, low-cost, energy-efficient technology is scheduled to be set up in the Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility next month following the recent signing of an interlocal agreement with the cities of Reno and Sparks.
“Our plan is to test the unit by about May 15,” said Chuck Coronella, principal investigator for the research project and an associate professor of chemical engineering. “We’re designing, building and assembling a continuous-feed system that will ultimately be used to generate electricity. We’ll run experiments throughout the summer, creating a usable dried product from the sludge.”
The experimental system will process 20 pounds of sludge per hour, drying it at modest temperatures into solid fuel that will be analyzed for its suitability to be used for fuel through gasification and, in a commercial operation, ultimately converted to electricity. The refrigerator-size demonstration unit will help researchers determine the optimum conditions for a commercial-sized operation.
Estimates, which will be further refined through the research, show that with a full-scale system the plant could generate 600 kilowatts of electricity a day to help power the facility.
The demonstration-scale project is a collaboration with the cities of Reno and Sparks, operators of the wastewater plant. The city councils signed an interlocal agreement recently to allow the research to integrate into their operation, providing space for the experiments, the dewatered sludge and other resources to help make the project a success.
Installation of the system will begin in April, and the system will be tested mid-May. The project will last until fall.
The Technology Transfer Office at the university will be working on commercializing the patent-pending technology, and has collaborated with the College of Business to assist with plans of making the system available to hundreds of communities around the country that operate water treatment plants.
For example, there are approximately 700,000 metric tons of dried sludge produced annually in California municipalities, which would generate as much as a sustainable 400 MW plant.
The project is funded through the Energy Innovations Small Grant Program, the California Energy Commission and the Department of Energy. This portion of the project was selected for funding by the Tech Transfer Office under a DOE grant to support transferring technologies from the lab to practical application.
The project is one of many of UNR’s renewable energy research areas that have commercial potential to help Nevada’s economy grow.
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