New Florida Pelletization Plant Goes One Step Further
Houston, TX— A newly constructed state-of-the-art
biosolids heat drying and pelletization facility is now providing service
for Pinellas County, Florida and operating with environmentally friendly
designs that recycle the wastewater, the air emissions, and the sewage
sludge entering the plant.
The Florida facility was designed and built by a team
led by Synagro Technologies Inc. and is seen as a model biosolids treatment
concept by the many interested neighboring municipalities that have visited
it recently. According to County Utilities Director, Pick Talley, "Pinellas
County now has one of the most sophisticated wastewater facilities in
the country. We are delighted to officially open this plant."
The facility is processing the biosolids within a contained
building to reduce odors and also is treating the air emissions from the
plant to allow for a "good neighbor" relationship between the
County and surrounding residents. Further, the facility utilizes methane
gas produced from other portions of the wastewater treatment process as
a renewable energy source. Utilizing this methane helps reduce greenhouse
gases.
The biosolids heat-drying pelletizer recently began
operations after a formal acceptance of the project by the County, which
followed their review of successful system performance tests conducted
in March. Synagro was authorized to initiate the operations of the facility
on April 24, 2003.
The Pinellas County operation is now converting dewatered
biosolids into a Class AA fertilizer product (approximately 30 dry tons
of Class AA biosolids are produced daily), which will be marketed by Synagro
and distributed for commercial and residential use under the Granulite
brand name. Synagro currently markets over 150,000 tons of Class AA pelletized
biosolids annually.
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