Los Angeles to Turn Wastewater Sludge into Energy

Date: April 6, 2007

Source: News Room

The City of Los Angeles recently broke ground on an innovative renewable energy project. Touted as the first of its kind in the country, the project involves injecting biosolid wastes from the city's Terminal Island Water Reclamation Plant and injecting them into depleted oil and gas reservoirs more than a mile underground. There, high temperatures and pressure will compress the biosolids to generate methane gas that will in turn power fuel cells on the surface. The system is expected to cost from $3 to $4 million to build but is expected to pay handsome dividends. Once fully operational, it will produce 3.5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 3,000 homes; energy that is worth $2.4 million a year. There are other benefits too. The high temperature and pressure underground will dissolve the carbon dioxide and avoid its release into the atmosphere. The process will reduce by half the waste which otherwise must be trucked to Kern County. Terralog Technologies USA Inc. will initially operatethe system.

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