Ecoremedy LLC, which designs complete biosolid drying and gasification facilities for wastewater treatment and other challenging organic wastes, has received a ruling from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that its Fluid Lift gasification technology is not an incineration.
“After two years of intense scientific scrutiny, EPA’s determination empowers communities to deploy Ecoremedy to treat their waste locally in an environmentally friendly manner,” said Ecoremedy President and CTO David Mooney. “The self-sustaining process eliminates dependence on fossil fuel to power the process and avoids the practice of hauling sludge across state lines to incinerators or landfills.”
Ecoremedy is working with Ameresco to install the Fluid Lift system at the City of Edmonds 31-year-old wastewater treatment plant in Washington state to replace an outdated, expensive and unreliable incinerator that no longer meets the city’s environmental standards.
The new Fluid Lift system is expected to reduce CO2 emissions, reduce the plant’s electrical consumption, eliminate the need for fossil fuel necessary for the old incineration process and convert residual solids into a marketable product.
Completion is anticipated in late 2022. The Edmond facility was cited by the Water Environment Federation as a “Utility of the Future Today.”
The self-sustaining gasification process eliminates dependence on fossil fuel to power the process and avoids the practice of hauling sludge across state lines to incinerators or landfills and destructs polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as the forever chemical.
Fluid Lift gasification avoids the production of highly toxic and carcinogenic dioxins and furans commonly produced by incineration. These pollutants cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, and interfere with hormones.
With its ability to make FlexChar, a unique product that ranges from 1% carbon to over 60% carbon, the Ecoremedy system can be adjusted to increase the recovery of carbon for use as biochar. Or, the system can be tuned to increase energy recovery for use as a renewable energy source.
The EPA made its determination following Ecoremedy’s successful pilot project in Morrisville, Pennsylvania.
Two decades ago, Ecoremedy began exploring ways to help farmers create clean energy from agricultural waste. The EPA made its determination following Ecoremedy’s successfully completed a pilot project in Morrisville in 2021 which used human waste as a renewable fuel source.
Ecoremedy technology not only has been proven to help agriculture, municipal and industrial entities, but it also is shown to end the rising costs and environmental hazards associated with biosolids disposal.
“It’s a paradigm shift in how communities like Edmonds – and soon the world – will create greener environments,” Mooney said. “The historic results from the Morrisville pilot serve as a remarkable example of how we can improve environmental outcomes in communities like Edmonds. We’re improving the environment and will save ratepayers millions of dollars in regulatory costs.”
