Anaergia Inc. has signed a design-build agreement with the Town of Petawawa, Ontario to upgrade the existing anaerobic digesters located at Petawawa’s Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP).
Anaergia’s Omnivore system will be used to upgrade the WPCP digesters to process biosolids from the wastewater treatment operations along with organics from the municipal solid waste stream. The digesters will then produce biogas that will be used to fuel a combined heat and power engine, reducing WPCP’s dependence on fossil energy supplied by utilities, and reducing its operating costs.
“This is the first wastewater plant in Canada that will benefit from Anaergia’s unique suite of technologies for upgrading existing wastewater infrastructure into a facility that will produce renewable energy. The technologies used here have already been proven in the US, most recently at a facility belonging to the Victor Valley (California) Wastewater Reclamation Authority,” said Andrew Benedek, chairman and CEO of Anaergia.
“The Petawawa WPCP will serve as an important reference site for Canada. We expect to convert many more facilities in Canada and elsewhere as such conversions make economic and environmental sense. Furthermore, it makes wastewater plants resilient to power interruptions.”
The project is designed to achieve net zero carbon emissions for the WPCP and to convert the existing facility into a resource recovery centre for organic waste. In this way, it will contribute to creating a circular economy in the region while contributing to Ontario’s efforts to divert waste from landfills.
In addition to providing the digester technology and ancillary equipment, process integration and overall project execution, the contract also calls for Anaergia to provide technical services to the WPCP for a period of 10 years.
According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, there are approximately 2,000 Municipal Wastewater Systems in the country serving close to 86 per cent of the total population.
Anaergia is a global leader in the production of clean energy, fertilizer, and recycled water from various waste streams, offering a wide range of resource recovery technologies for the municipal, industrial, commercial, and agricultural markets. Anaergia’s integrated resource recovery solutions create value for its customers in the forms of renewable natural gas, quality fertilizers, and clean water, while reducing the cost of waste management. Anaergia delivers integrated and global resource recovery solutions through established offices in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia and its resource recovery facility network and breakthrough technologies, in use at over a thousand locations worldwide.
Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) recently named Anaergia to its inaugural list of Canada’s Sustainability Changemakers. It is one of only 10 businesses to receive this honour.
Featured image: The Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority’s Omnivore™ system, which will help the authority become 90 to 100 per cent energy neutral. Credit: Anaergia.
