ThermoEnergy Contracts with NYC for Jamaica Bay Work
ThermoEnergy Corporation has entered into a $27.1 million contract with the City of New York, to deploy a state-of-the-art ammonia recovery system at the City's 26th Ward Wastewater Treatment Plant situated on Jamaica Bay.
Once in full operation, the company's CASTion Ammonia Recovery Process (ARP) will prevent approximately 2.4 million pounds of ammonia from entering Jamaica Bay each year, helping the city improve the health of Jamaica Bay as outlined under Mayor Bloomberg's Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan.
Ammonia is a major source of excess nitrogen in a number of U.S. waterways. Excess nitrogen creates algae blooms that rob oxygen levels in water once the algae dies and decays. The ARP process will be used to treat the treatment plant's ammonia-laden, internal recycle stream called "centrate." When operational, the ARP facility will treat 1,200,000 gallons of water per day.
"Preserving Jamaica Bay is a top priority for the Bloomberg Administration, and CASTion ARP is cutting-edge technology that will dramatically reduce the nitrogen content of the wastewater that New Yorkers produce every day," said Environmental Protection Commissioner Cas Holloway. "This past year, the city committed to reduce nitrogen discharges into Jamaica Bay by at least 50 percent through $200 million of investments in nitrogen-control technologies over the next decade. While nitrogen poses no risk to humans, it can reduce the Bay's dissolved oxygen content, which fish and other aquatic life need to thrive. DEP has always been a leader in the development of wastewater technology, and we expect that CASTion ARP—a new non-biological process that captures ammonia—will contribute significantly to the Bay's long-term ecological restoration."