Synagro Technologies, Inc., a full service provider of water and wastewater residuals management services, has received a "Notice to Proceed" to begin construction of a state-of-the-art biosolids heat drying and pelletization facility for the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District which is expected to be completed sometime in mid 2004.
The facility, which will be built at the District's Wastewater Treatment Plant in Elk Grove, will process biosolids within a contained building to reduce odors. Further, the facility will treat air emissions from the plant using advanced state-of-the-art technology to help continue the "good neighbor" relationship between the District and surrounding residents.
"This facility is the first of its kind in the State of California and incorporates the most environmentally and technically advanced processing systems available," according to Ruben Robles, Biosolids Program Manager.
"Our environment and our community will benefit once this facility is completed and begins serving the residents of Sacramento County," stated Wendell Kido, District Manager. "The project design will enable this advanced treatment facility to be operated while having minimal impact on the neighborhood and allow us to deliver treatment services at a reasonable cost to the community," said Kido.
The state-of-the-art technology also provides another environmentally friendly benefit by recycling the city's wastewater residuals into an "exceptional quality" Class A organic fertilizer product that can be sold for use on commercial and residential lawns and gardens.
Approximately 20 dry tons of Class A biosolids will be produced daily at the Sacramento Recycling facility -- about 7,500 tons a year -- which will be marketed by Synagro and distributed for commercial and residential use under the "Granulite" brand name. Synagro currently markets moe than 150,000 tons of Class A (Exceptional Quality or EQ) pelletized biosolids annually.
"This will be a world-class heat drying facility and excellent example of how public-private partnerships can be formed to address municipal biosolids management needs, environmental challenges and local community concerns," stated Ross M. Patten, Synagro's chairman and CEO.
The District entered into a public/private partnership last year with an industry team, led by Synagro Technologies, Inc., signing a twenty year contract to design, finance, build and operate a 7,500 dry ton/year biosolids, dewatering and heat drying facility capable of providing local residents with a long-term, environmentally friendly solution to their waste management needs.
Synagro is teamed with Andritz-Ruthner, Inc., Black & Veatch, and The Whiting Turner Contracting Company for the design and construction of the facility. The plant will incorporate the Andritz Drum Drying System with its innovative processing features. Andritz-Ruthner is the industry leader in heat drying/pelletization technology, with over 55 facilities worldwide. Design and local planning expertise is being provided by Black & Veatch, Inc. and Whiting Turner will construct the facility.
"We are looking forward to beginning this benchmark project in California," Patten said.
Synagro received all of the permits required for the project on schedule prompting issuance of the official "Notice to Proceed" from the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District on July 18, 2003. The contract allows 548 days for construction, start-up and acceptance testing by the District, with a Scheduled Acceptance Date of January 16, 2005, but an early completion in 2004 is expected.
Source: Synagro Technologies, Inc.
