Dunbar, James

JAMES DUNBAR, P.E. is the General Manager at Lystek International (US). Jim is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (Civil & Environmental Engineering) and St. Xavier University (MBA) and a Professional Engineer with more than 25 years' experience in the management of solid waste and treatment of liquid wastes in the United States and Europe. Lystek opened its US biosolids processing facility in Fairfield, Solano County, California in 2016. Jim's role is overall site operations for the Fairfield OMRC facility, and engineering/business development in California and the US market.

Titles from this speaker

A Public-Private Success Story for Biosolids Management in Northern California

Abstract

A Public-Private Success Story for Biosolids Management in Northern California James Dunbar, PE, General Manager, Lystek International Limited Jordan Damerel, PE, Director of Engineering, Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District The Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District (FSSD) and Lystek International Limited (Lystek) have built a progressive public-private partnership (P3) to provide solutions to the biosolids management challenges faced by Northern California wastewater agencies. FSSD is a special district (located 45 miles northeast of San Francisco) and has a history of looking for progressive approaches to wastewater treatment technologies. Lystek is a Canadian-based private company with a patented biosolids treatment technology, a thermal-chemical hydrolysis process employing high-speed shearing, alkali pH, and low-pressure steam injection (Lystek THP). The Lystek THP process hydrolyzes biosolids and residuals to produce a concentrated liquid that has multiple applications in resource recovery, including as a Class A biosolids fertilizer (LysteGro), and a digester enhancement (LysteMize). This paper will present the background of biosolids issues in Northern California and the steps taken by FSSD and Lystek to be leaders in overall biosolids solutions, resource recovery, and high-value beneficial uses. The San Francisco Bay Area relies on a diverse portfolio of biosolids outlets. More than 1,500,000 wet tons of biosolids are generated each year from almost 40 wastewater treatment plants. The solids treatment processes employed by the various plants include digestion, lime-stabilization, mechanical drying and solar/wind drying. The management outlets include incineration, landfills (both for disposal and alternate cover material), composting, and agricultural land application. For many years, there were economical outlets for the seasonal volume fluctuations and land application requirements of regional governments. About 15 years ago, it became clear that alternative solutions needed to be explored due to increasing volumes and a desire to capture the value inherent in biosolids. Individual agencies and sub-regional groups started to investigate potential solutions and spent considerable time, effort, and money in this area, however, a lack of financial commitments by both the private sector and public entities prevented any real progress in finding a proven solution. In 2016, Lystek and FSSD entered into a +20-year partnership to develop an onsite solution for biosolids management and resource recovery. The partnership agreement allowed the development of the Fairfield Organic Material Recovery Center (OMRC) as a regional biosolids and organics management facility, owned and operated by Lystek, leveraging under-utilized infrastructure and assets at the FSSD plant. The Fairfield OMRC location is ideally situated to provide a regional solution, straddling the edge of urban density which provides biosolids quantities, and an established agricultural community seeking soil amendments. The partnership between FSSD and Lystek has successfully created a complete solution for utilities in the Bay Area through Lystek's efficient process, on-site storage solution, and development of a strong market for the Class A biosolids fertilizer. The OMRC accepts residuals year round, is able to store the fertilizer during inclement weather periods, and land applies fertilizer throughout the year as field conditions allow. The material is classified as a Class A biosolids by USEPA (Part 503 standards), and has received a bulk fertilizer registration by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). This dual-designation material has allowed LysteGro to be widely used and accepted by area farmers and ranchers as a fertilizer (Figure 1) to avoid the use of chemical and synthetic fertilizers. The use of Class A LysteGro is now accepted in multiple counties which have historically been restrictive to traditional Class B biosolids and its land application practices. The other major component of the FSSD-Lystek partnership involves enhanced digestion and biogas generation. FSSD operates anaerobic digesters to treat wastewater solids and utilize the biogas for onsite co-generation (electricity plus heat for the digesters). This reduces the overall plant energy dependence on fossil-fuels sources. Through the LysteMize process, a portion of the Lystek THP treated biosolids can be re-fed to anaerobic digesters to increase volatile solids destruction and boost biogas yields. The LysteMize process was initiated at FSSD in 2018, refeeding 10% - 30% of processed biosolids from FSSD and third party generators to the digesters. Due to new California legislation related to organics diversion from landfills, generators of undigested biosolids who send their material to the OMRC are able to obtain diversion and recycling credits for the volumes processed with this enhanced digestion. The LysteMize process has measurably increased biogas quantities generated compared to historically generated volumes. At the greater than 30% refeed rate, gas levels have increased by approximately 17% compared to pre-feeding quantities. There is also a noticeable increase in biogas yield (the cubic feet of methane per lb of influent VS) as a result of the increased digestibility of the hydrolyzed material. Since Lystek became operational, there have been additional regulatory and market changes in options for biosolids management. Private companies, primarily landfills, have banned or limited the amount of biosolids they are willing to accept, stressing winter outlets for biosolids. In addition, regulatory requirements have been established, mandating organic material diversion and increased recycling goals, further limiting landfills' ability to offer beneficial uses on a year-round basis. These changes have resulted in a growing customer list of utilities utilizing the Fairfield OMRC as a secure, sustainable biosolids management option (Figure 2). This successful P3 partnership between FSSD and Lystek has offered regional agencies a reliable, sustainable and cost-controlled biosolids management solution. Generators now have a local management facility which produces and manages a Class A biosolids fertilizer, and reduces GHG emissions through additional biogas recovery in the FSSD digesters. The successful LysteGro management program has sold and applied more than 250,000 tons of CDFA registered fertilizer (Figure 3), and substantially grown the market and demand for the product. Increasing fertilizer value has provided the opportunity for revenue sharing opportunities with generators who send their biosolids to the FSSD OMRC. This paper will present a case study of this regional processing facility and discuss the successes and challenges experienced over this time.

The following conference paper was presented at Residuals and Biosolids 2021: A Virtual Event, May 11-13, 2021.

SpeakerDunbar, James

Presentation time

13:30:00

13:50:00

Session time

13:30:00

14:30:00

SessionSustainability: Planning, Action, and Communication

Session number7

Session locationLive on Zoom

TopicBiosolids, Organics Diversion, public private partnership

Author(s)

J. DunbarJ. Damerel

Author(s)J. Dunbar1; J. Damerel2

Author affiliation(s)Lystek International Limited 1; Fairfield Suisun Sewer District 2;

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date May 2021

DOI10.2175/193864718825157952

Volume / Issue

Content sourceResiduals and Biosolids Conference

Word count11

Description: Alternate: A Biosolids Land Application Program for All Seasons: Case Study in...

Alternate: A Biosolids Land Application Program for All Seasons: Case Study in Northern California

Abstract

Land application programs exist in every part of the United States for the safe beneficial use of biosolids and other organic materials. These programs have been managed mostly by established private companies serving the needs of local and regional biosolids generators (primarily municipal wastewater treatment facilities). In many cases, it has taken many years to establish the network of consistent biosolids sources and receiving outlets in the agriculture community such that predictable volumes can be applied from one year to the next. In recent years, the fragile nature of this network has been exposed due to the changing perception of biosolids as a safe soil amendment material. Biosolids receivers, regulatory bodies, and the public have been taking extra measures to try and limit the potential negative impacts from these biosolids materials. Whether the issues are from constituents-of-emerging-concern (CECs) or falsely assumed health/environment impacts, there has been a trend to limit the traditional practices for land application programs. Land application bans, restrictions and farmer hesitations have caused a reduction in the available land for biosolids application and an increase in cost to the service providers and biosolids generators in an attempt to keep as many existing sites open and available. In northern California, historic land application programs have been in place for more than 25 years under strict regulatory guidelines and ordinance provisions. Overall biosolids management has relied on a mix-use of: landfills (for alternate daily cover and disposal) to seasonal land application and including out-of-region composting facilities. Over the last 15 years, there have been attempts to bring innovation to the marketplace with proven and emerging technologies. However, the high cost of these conceptual plans have not gained any meaningful support from the biosolids generators and private companies have not invested without some level of financial support assurances. This has kept the ongoing practice of simple land application in practice and at risk. That has left the wastewater treatment sector with minimal options, yet a desire to advance their biosolids management programs. Some agencies have adopted progressive policy goals in their biosolids master planning, and this has been accelerating with the pending enforcement of severe limitations on organics continuing to be allowed in landfills. Other agencies have realized the risk to their programs and are looking for a diversified portfolio of options which could include year-round solutions and contingency outlets for emergency situations. In 2016, Lystek International Limited (Lystek) took the step of developing a proven technology to produce a Class A end product in partnership with a San Francisco Bay Area wastewater treatment facility. This public-private partnership between the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District (FSSD) and Lystek (a Canadian-based company) allowed for a thermal hydrolysis process (THP) to be co-located at the FSSD facility. The location is mid-way between San Francisco (the heart of the urban density) and Sacramento (part of the agricultural-rich Central Valley). This processing plant (the first in the United States), known as the Lystek Fairfield Organics Material recovery Center (OMRC) was built as a regional center facility to manage up to 150,000 wet tons biosolids annually. These feedstocks, including the ability to accept other forms of organic materials (such as food and beverage by-products), are transformed into a high-nutrient, high-solid liquid fertilizer material. The expectation was that an end product with a Class A characterization, new markets could be opened up and a financial business model shown to be successful. Initial research by Lystek in the northern California region revealed a few interesting aspects of the practice for land application. One was that there was a very limited use of any biosolids with a Class A designation being used. Another was that farmers and ranchers had never paid for the Class B biosolids and that left the total cost of the land application program to be borne by the generators (and serviced by private companies under contract to the wastewater agencies). And finally, no-one had ever used a liquid form of biosolids fertilizer. It was Lystek's objective to confront these issues and develop a new program basis. Early outreach to gauge the potential for success was undertaken by Lystek and its product marketing team. The key members of the team included degreed agronomists and certified crop advisors to gain the confidence of a potentially skeptical market for biosolids. Outreach efforts included memberships in area Farm Bureaus to have direct contact and educational opportunities with farmers. The Lystek liquid fertilizer had already gained a high degree of acceptance in Canada, and research projects had shown the crop-yield and soil health benefits of the nutrient-rich fertilizer. This provided documentation to interested farmers and ranchers that the benefits of using the LysteGro fertilizer were real. The Class A designation of the end product also alleviated some doubts about the product quality and allowed Lystek to differentiate itself from the traditional Class B biosolids used for land application. An additional key element to support the new Lystek program gain acceptance was receiving a registration from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) for LysteGro as a bulk fertilizer material. This allowed LysteGro to be marketed as an alternative to chemical and synthetic-based fertilizers which had a captive market until then for farmers who choose not to use biosolids or could not receive them due to limited availability. The other key aspect of receiving this CDFA registration is that LysteGro was going to be sold and not given away to users. The registration requires that a minimal nutrient value be guaranteed and maintained, and a LysteGro product label was developed to show farmers the suite of nutrients that would be available by the use of the liquid fertilizer. Lystek aggressively priced its material in an advantageous way to enter the market, gain acceptance (even by word-of-mouth) and grow the market to meet the growing quantities being produced by the OMRC. The first land application of the LysteGro material was performed in 2017. In the initial four years, the program has grown from a zero-market share to a strong and financially productive program. It is projected that 2021 will see land application volumes in excess of 100,000 tons (more than 25,000,000 gallons) of fertilizer material applied to over 7,000 acres of land and used on over 5 types of crops. Every ton/gallon of this high-value product has been beneficially used and paid for as a commercial fertilizer product. Lystek uses these sales in its front-end marketing with potential feedstock sources and offers a revenue sharing program with participants of the OMRC business to offset some of their own biosolids generating expenses. This presentation will explain in more detail the THP processing technology that makes a liquid product suitable and more advantageous for a modern land application program. Additional components of this paper will include the marketing strategies that gained acceptance by both the regulatory and end-users community. It will also highlight how a maturing Class A fertilizer program could be applicable in the face of potential restrictions to lesser quality biosolids derived products.

This paper was presented at the WEF Residuals and Biosolids Conference in Columbus, Ohio, May 24-27, 2022.

SpeakerDunbar, James

Presentation time

13:30:00

16:45:00

Session time

13:30:00

16:45:00

Session number15

Session locationGreater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio

TopicBeneficial use, Land Application, Thermal hydrolysis

Author(s)