Designing a Large Inorganic Media Biofilter at the Stickney Water Reclamation Facility

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC) owns and operates seven (7) water reclamation plants in the greater Chicago area. The Stickney Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) is the largest wastewater treatment facility in the world. The WRP serves nearly 2.4 million people. The WRP service area encompasses approximately 260 square miles serving the central part of Chicago and 43 surrounding suburban communities. The Stickney WRP has a design capacity of 1.44 billion gallons per day. The following treatment processes are provided at the WRP:• Preliminary Treatment• Primary Settling Tanks• Imhoff Tanks (to be replaced by Primary Settling Tanks)• Activated Sludge Aeration Tanks• Secondary Clarifiers• Primary and Secondary Sludge Thickening• Anaerobic Digesters• Biosolids DewateringThis paper will review the following elements of the selection and design of the inorganic media biofilter for the primary sludge gravity thickener building:• Review of alternatives• Ventilation design criteria• Dispersion modeling results• Media properties and selection• Developing plans and specifications for competitive bidding• Performance testing requirements○ Air distribution smoke testing○ H2S removal○ Odor removal○ Air flow rate and pressure drop across system• Specific vendor considerations• Side by side comparison with organic media designThe information gathered during the design and construction of the biofilters was useful to AECOM and MWRDGC to optimize operations, and use on other similar projects. This paper will present information that will be interesting and useful for facility owners, designers and operators to consider when selecting biofilter systems for various applications and process areas. The paper and presentation will provide clear documentation of lessons learned during the design, construction, and testing of this large 229,400 cfm biofiltration system