Report: Ammonia Recovery Process Lowers GHG
Parsons-Brinckerhoff, a planning, engineering, and construction management organization, has completed an engineering study that demonstrates that the use of ThermoEnergy Corp.'s Ammonia Recovery Process results in substantial reductions in carbon emissions for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants versus conventional biological methods for the treatment and removal of nitrogen/ammonia.
The report shows that a generic 100 million-gallon-per-day wastewater treatment plant can expect greenhouse gas emission reductions in the range of 3,000 and 5,000 tons a year -- comparable to reducing truck travel by 2 million to 3 million miles annually.
Thousands of tons of nitrogen, in the form of ammonia, are being discharged into local waterways every day by wastewater treatment plants throughout the country .Many states, as well as the federal government, have begun to regulate these discharges to protect the environment. These plants also emit significant air emissions of greenhouse gases in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). CH4 has 21 times the warming potential of CO2, and N2O has 310 times the warming potential, making them particularly damaging.
"This important and timely study, combined with the BioWin(R) Report issued by HydroQual, Inc. earlier this year, makes a compelling case for the use of ARP over conventional biological systems," said Dennis Cossey, chief executive officer of ThermoEnergy.
"Today, many wastewater treatment plants are being forced to address air emissions as well as water emissions," said Cossey."ThermoEnergy is uniquely positioned to address both pollution issues, as our technology is at the cutting edge of carbon reduction solutions.
Known as a physical/chemical process, ARP establishes a new standard for cost-effective, energy efficient, and reliable treatment of ammonia stemming from wastewater treatment plants .Utilizing a patented design, the process removes ammonia and converts it into ammonium sulfate; a commercial-grade fertilizer used by agriculture around the world .The compact size of the process allows it to be retrofitted into existing wastewater treatment plants. In addition, ThermoEnergy said the process is almost five times cheaper to build than comparable biological systems.
The ARP process is the core technology in the company's planned $12.4 million ammonia removal project for the city of New York.