Solar-Heated Thermal-Floor Enhanced Solar Greenhouse Biosolids Drying

摘要

The City of Surprise (City) Special Planning Area 1 (SPA 1) Water Reclamation Plant (Facility) staff has been developing ways of optimizing energy use around various processes within the plant to decrease operational costs. Over the past 5 years, the City and Brown and Caldwell (BC) have been exploring the use of renewable solar energy to further dewater biosolids with the goal of becoming a regional waste-to-energy facility. Additional drying of the biosolids, whether to Class A or B, will significantly reduce the hauling costs and tipping fees required to dispose of biosolids in a landfill, decrease energy costs, and promote sustainable use of a waste product by converting it to a usable project. The City and ВС have collaborated to develop a demonstration project concept that integrates solar heat with the direct application of radiant heat to biosolids, effectively reducing the water in the biosolids. The demonstration project is located at the SPA 1 Facility and has been in operation since early 2017, with the City continuing to operate the project between and after the testing events. ВС has collected and analyzed data to help determine the costs associated with this project, potential Return on Investment, and to develop conceptual design parameters for a full-scale regional biosolids drying system that will be incorporated into the current operations of the Facility. This concept would eliminate the regional facilities from disposing of wet biosolids to the Northwest Regional Landfill and develop it to a new usable resource.