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

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.