EMISSIONS OPTIMIZATION OF A NEW FLUID BED REACTOR

Is your facility saddled with operational restrictions that are drawn from a single compliance test? Most sludge combustion permits have restrictive terms and conditions based on a single compliance demonstration. This paper presents a compliance strategy based on maximizing operational flexibility while minimizing emissions and operational costs.The Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati has recently commissioned a 72 dry ton per day fluid bed reactor at the Little Miami Wastewater Treatment Plant. An extensive three part emissions testing program was performed to optimize operations. The performance guarantee testing consisted of three 8-hour tests for conformance to the feed, fuel, emissions, water, and electricity specifications. The emissions sensitivity testing consisted of thirty-six 1-hour tests in which the biosolids feed rate, biosolids total solids content, operating temperatures, and scrubber pressures were adjusted to determine the optimum operating conditions. The emissions compliance testing consisted of three 1-hour tests required for Ohio EPA approval. For each test emission monitoring included particulate matter (PM and PM10), total hydrocarbons (THC), carbon monoxide (CO), organic carbon (OC), nitrogen oxide (NOX), sulfur dioxide (SO2), opacity, and metals; arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, and nickel.The Little Miami WWTP staff conducted testing over a wide operating range to optimize emissions. The optimal reactor feed rate, biosolids moisture content, scrubber pressure differential, and scrubber water flow rate will be presented. The operational lessons learned through this testing may be used to improve operations at other treatment facilities.