(732n) Unlocking the Power of Sewage Sludge and Biosolids through the Integration of Supercritical Water Technologies to Produce Renewable Natural Gas
AIChE Annual Meeting
2022
2022 Annual Meeting
RAPID Manufacturing Institute for Process Intensification
RAPID Poster Session
Monday, November 14, 2022 - 5:00pm to 7:00pm
"WPI has partnered with RAPID and several national labs on two recent DOE awards reimagining waste to energy routes by hydrothermal liquefaction of wet wastes. While the university teams are discovering new chemical pathways, RAPID is evaluating the technoeconomic feasibility and identifying viable pathways to market transformation.
The United States generates approximately 34 billion gallons of wastewater every day. Current wastewater treatment (WWT) facilities meet the rate of waste generation but are energy intensive, consuming nearly 30 TW-h annually. WWT generates undesired sewage sludge and biosolid slurries that are often discarded to landfills; however, these waste streams typically have an energy content 5-times the energy required to operate a WWT facility.
WPI and RAPID are collaborating to effectively manage the sewage sludge waste stream by converting it to a renewable natural gas (RNG). Hydrothermal gasification (HTG) is a method proven to convert organic waste feeds into RNG. At WPI, we are looking to integrate additional supercritical water technologies such as hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), supercritical salt precipitation (SCSP) to eliminate issues associated with solid and inorganic loading on the HTG reactor. Rapid will then take the results shown in our studies to build comprehensive technoeconomic and life cycle analyses that will help justify launching this technology in today's market"
The United States generates approximately 34 billion gallons of wastewater every day. Current wastewater treatment (WWT) facilities meet the rate of waste generation but are energy intensive, consuming nearly 30 TW-h annually. WWT generates undesired sewage sludge and biosolid slurries that are often discarded to landfills; however, these waste streams typically have an energy content 5-times the energy required to operate a WWT facility.
WPI and RAPID are collaborating to effectively manage the sewage sludge waste stream by converting it to a renewable natural gas (RNG). Hydrothermal gasification (HTG) is a method proven to convert organic waste feeds into RNG. At WPI, we are looking to integrate additional supercritical water technologies such as hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), supercritical salt precipitation (SCSP) to eliminate issues associated with solid and inorganic loading on the HTG reactor. Rapid will then take the results shown in our studies to build comprehensive technoeconomic and life cycle analyses that will help justify launching this technology in today's market"