The Capital Regional District board has come up with a strategy for dealing with the end product of the region’s sewage treatment process that will make a priority of using the resulting biosolids for fuel.
Last week, the board moved forward a three-tiered approach that will form the heart of the CRD’s long-term biosolids management plan to be submitted for provincial approval next month.
The first tier — and preferred long-term solution — is to establish an advanced thermal processing plant at Hartland Landfill that will convert biosolids into biochar or biofuel.
The second tier, to be employed when the processing facility is not available, includes out-of-region options for biosolids, such as mine and quarry reclamation projects, forest fertilization and alternative-fuel combustion — which is a current practice at a cement manufacturing facility in Richmond.
The third tier is to consider options within the CRD’s borders when the first two tiers are unworkable, which could include industrial land reclamation, forest fertilization and in cover systems at Hartland Landfill.
CRD board chair Colin Plant said the third tier would require consultation and engagement with affected First Nations and getting explicit consent from the CRD board.
Plant said the CRD is already working to deliver a pilot project to test the thermalization of the biosolids.
The pilot project is not expected to be up and running for at least two years.
“I think we need to demonstrate that it’s effective and then we need to be able to demonstrate to the province that it is an appropriate use of our biosolids,” he said. “It will give us an opportunity to make sure that it is effectively addressing the issues that we’ve identified with biosolids, which is to make sure that when they are dealt with, they are dealt with in a way that the final product is something we are comfortable with using — either as an ash or a biochar.”
He said it makes sense to test the waters before committing capital to build a thermal processing plant.
“The long-term goal, of course, is that we are able to actually generate energy and see a return on what we’re getting from our biosolids,” Plant said. “Land application is not giving us the best potential return of energy derived from this resource, which is how we’re all choosing to look at this. Biosolids are a resource and we are hoping that we can do better.”
Biosolids, which look like granules, are a solid byproduct of the sewage-treatment process.
> See BIOSOLIDS, A2
They can be used as a fuel to power facilities such as a cement kiln or as a soil supplement
The $127-million residuals plant at Hartland uses micro-organisms and heat to convert the remnants of the region’s sewage treatment into the pellets.
The biosolids had been piling up at the facility at the rate of 10 tonnes a day when the Lafarge cement plant in Richmond was offline and unable to accept the material.
Last year, the residual plant produced 2,908 tonnes of biosolids. The CRD was forced to put 2,233 tonnes into controlled-waste trenches in the landfill with other hazardous materials. About 680 tonnes were shipped to a quarry reclamation site in Cassidy, south of Nanaimo, and only 67 tonnes went to the Lafarge cement facility.
April marked the first time in months Hartland did not bury any biosolids, as the cement plant was able to use the biosolids to fire its kiln.
The CRD does not consider landfilling biosolids an option, as it wastes space in the landfill and does not meet provincial requirements to find beneficial uses for biosolids.
In 2011, the board passed a biosolids land application ban based on the concerns of several advocacy groups and members of the public.
However, it amended the regional ban on land application to allow biosolids to be spread on non-agricultural land as a short-term solution when it could not ship the pellets to the cement plant.
That allowed the regional district to send biosolids to a gravel extraction quarry in Cassidy, where biosolids mixed with sand are being stored.
Biosolids have been used around the world to add nutrients and organic material to the land.
The residual treatment facility at Hartland that produces thermally dried biosolids is run by Baltimore, Maryland-based Synagro Technologies, which is being sued by a group of Texas farmers, who claim fertilizer made from biosolids is making them sick and killing their animals.
The CRD has pointed out biosolids produced in the capital region have not been used for agricultural purposes.
The three-tier plan will be posted on the CRD’s website until June 3, with an invitation for public comment. It will also be given to the technical and community advisory committee for feedback.
Staff will gather the feedback and report back to the board June 12 with the expectation the board will submit its long-term biosolids management plan to the province for approval June 18.
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