BioCycle World

August 2004, Vol. 45, No. 8, p. 6

SEEKING VENDORS TO COMPOST OR DIGEST 150 TPD
OF ORGANICS FROM FOOD CENTER
The amount of food residuals and related organics generated each day at a major food distribution terminal that serves New York City is getting closer to being turned into a resource — instead of greater amounts to be hauled to out-of-state landfills. As an indicator of how the reuse pressure is mounting, the New York City Economic Development Corporation has contracted with DSM Environmental Services of Ascutney, Vermont to conduct a feasibility study of the technical and economic viability of recovering the organic fraction of the waste stream from the Hunt’s Point food distribution center. Generators include the Produce Cooperative, Fulton Fish Market Cooperative, and individual food distribution centers at Hunt’s Point.

Initial estimates are that this could total 150 tons per day of material going to an organics recovery facility. However, DSM, as part of their scope of work, will be collecting recent waste generation data and conducting a waste composition analysis of the targeted waste streams. In addition, DSM will be assessing both potential composting and anaerobic digestion methodologies that could be sited at Hunt’s Point to both recover the organics and reduce the environmental impact from truck traffic exiting the facilities. A conceptual design and associated cost analysis will be provided to the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) at the end of the project.
DSM Environmental Services is now soliciting suppliers and manufacturers of composting or anaerobic digestion technologies to send a letter of interest by early September, 2004. Once such a letter of interest is received, DSM will contact the representative. Letters should be sent to Michael Simpson, DSM Environmental Services, Inc., PO Box 466, 23 Thrasher Road, Ascutney, Vermont 05030. Phone (802) 674-2840; e-mail: Michael@dsmenvironmental.com.

BEATING MSW INTO A SOIL-IMPROVING PULP
The U.S. Army reports that it is running out of space for disposal of the two million tons of garbage generated each year at a cost of $100 million. Its 12 landfills are filling up, and new ones cannot be built. A corollary problem is that heavily used Army training areas are becoming bare of vegetation because of constant traffic from heavy equipment and foot soldiers. The resulting soil erosion and compaction make it difficult to revegetate these areas. Now the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is teaming up with the Army to develop a solution by converting trash into a pulp that can be used to improve soil and establish native grasses.

Instead of being dumped in landfills, garbage is placed on a conveyor system that separates out metals. The leftover material can then be ground into a pulp. This system also uses high temperature and high-pressure steam to sterilize and help break down the pulp. It’s then dried and air-separated to remove plastics. The final product has a neutral pH and contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
ARS, led by soil scientist H. Allen Torbert of the National Soil Dynamics Laboratory in Auburn, Alabama, planted native grasses on two Army bases after this pulp material was applied to the Army’s land. Torbert is studying the chemical properties of soil after pulp introduction.
On the first two-year research plots, located at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, native grasses were successfully established and a significant increase in plant biomass occurred between the first and second year of study, according to Torbert. The researchers were able to make the soil fertile once again.
"We’re doing an excellent job of revegetating training areas in Fort Benning, Georgia," Torbert says of their second research location. These soils were very poor and required more pulp material. Restoration efforts were a huge success in the first year, with the planted native grass species becoming well established.
As more results are available, he plans to send BioCycle a more complete report.

PHOSPHORUS RUNOFF CAN BE PREVENTED
USING WATER TREATMENT RESIDUES
A residue from water treatment plants — often disposed of at landfills — can make effective soil treatments to prevent phosphorus runoff, from manure piles and other sites. Agricultural Research Service scientists are studying how the alum-based residual increases the soil’s capacity to bond phosphorus, especially where sandy soils take up but hold less phosphorus than finer-textured soils.
According to Jeffrey Novak of the Coastal Plains Center in Florence, South Carolina, increased bonding (or adsorption) of phosphorus would curb runoff that can lower oxygen content and spoil the taste of drinking water. The research indicates that chemically binding phosphorus into water-insoluble complexes using residuals containing iron oxide, aluminum oxide and hydroxide may become an important management practice. The alum-based water treatment residual this research focuses on has a high phosphorus-binding capacity.

GREEN BUILDING MEDIA CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED IN NORTHWEST
Recently, the city of Seattle, Washington — in partnership with King County, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) — launched a multimedia advertising campaign to encourage developers to "Think Green." The goal is to demonstrate the business case for green buildings. "Green building is profitable" is the key message, with the tagline "Build Green, Everyone Profits."
A variety of media will be used to raise awareness with commercial developers and prospective tenants and create a market preference by building a brand for green buildings. The campaign was developed and cofounded by the Seattle Department of Planning & Development, King County, Better Bricks, and the U.S. Green Building Council.
The marketing campaign will run for six months and includes print advertising, direct mail, media relations, case studies, and a new website: www.buildgreennw.com. A green building tool kit, including the ads, case studies, and other communications materials, will be made available to USGBC chapters nationwide. For more information, contact: Lynne Barker, Sustainable Building Specialist, LEED Accredited Professional, Seattle Department of Planning & Development, P.O. Box 34019, Seattle, WA 98124-4019. (206) 684-0806. Www.cityofseattle.net/dpd/sustainability.

EVALUATING IMPACT OF HUDSON RIVER PLUME ON
NEW JERSEY SHORELINE
Every day, between two and three billion gallons of water are moved along by the Hudson River toward the New Jersey coast. "It’s called the Hudson River plume," explains Bob Chant, a Physical Oceanography professor at Rutgers University’s Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences (IMCS). As explained in an article in Rutgers Magazine, the plume sweeps into the Atlantic Ocean, "a soup of debris, nutrients, sediment, metals, chemicals and microscopic plants and animals. The plume stays relatively intact as it chugs along the New Jersey coastline." A team of scientists will spend the next five years piecing together a three dimensional picture of the plume and how it affects New Jersey.
"In the end, we’ll have the most sophisticated model of what the Hudson River really does as it gradually mixes with the ocean," says Chant. The model will have worldwide applications, but will pinpoint how the Hudson River plume affects the coastal environment and economy. "It will certainly strengthen New Jersey’s position when New York is making future decisions about sewage disposal," he adds. "We’ll be able to say with greater certainty whether New York’s contaminants are stressing New Jersey." The project is funded by a five-year, $4.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation and involves five Rutgers research professors, varying numbers of technicians and assistants, as well as scientists from other ocean research institutions from Massachusetts to Florida to California.
Concludes Chant: More than 12 million people live in the river’s watershed, and about 100 sewage plants on 11 major tributaries discharge enough treated sludge to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every two seconds. Treated sewage, released into the water as inorganic nitrogen, is not in itself a problem, adds John Reinfelder, a Rutgers environmental sciences professor. "The problem is that nitrogen can encourage huge algae blooms. When the algae die, the decaying process uses up all the oxygen that fish need. Fish either move away or die. In either case, you can wind up with whole dead zones."

WATERSHED RESTORATION MANUALS
The Center for Watershed Protection in Maryland has four on-line manuals available free for the next few months at: http://www.cwp.org. The manuals — each approximately 100 pages — organize information needed to restore small urban watersheds into a format that can be accessed by municipal staff, environmental consultants, watershed groups and other users. The four manuals currently available are: An Integrated Framework to Restore Small Urban Watersheds; Pollution Source Control Practices; The Unified Stream Assessment; and The Unified Subwatershed and Site Reconnaissance. Seven additional titles will be available in the future, including Stormwater Retrofit Practices; Discharge Prevention Practices and Municipal Practices and Programs.

BIOMASS R&D GRANTS FOR $25 MILLION ANNOUNCED
BY U.S. DEFENSE AND AGRICULTURE AGENCIES

In mid-July, the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture announced awards of $25,480,628 for 22 projects funded under the Biomass Research and Development Initiative. In a separate USDA program, the Office of Rural and Community Development received 237 applications for the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency grant program totaling $36.6 million. The applications to be reviewed in coming months represent roughly seven renewable energy technologies which include: Anaerobic Digesters – 46; Bioenergy (biomass) – 20; Efficiency, buildings – 79; Efficiency, industrial – 18; Geothermal – 5; Hybrid – 2; Solar, large and small-scale – 14; Wind, large and small-scale – 53.

ENGINEERING PROFESSOR DEVELOPS PROCESS TO PRODUCE OIL
FROM LIVESTOCK MANURE
Bioenvironmental Engineering Professor Yuanhui Zhang of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his colleagues report development of a thermochemical conversion (TCC) process to produce oil and gas. "Similar to crude oil that Mother Nature formed from deceased animals (organic compounds) buried underground (a heated enclosure) for millions of years, the oil can be formed in a TCC reactor using other organic materials such as livestock manure in a few minutes," explains Zhang.
In a previous study, the researchers developed a small-scale batch reactor that tested key parameters such as temperature, pressure, retention time, feedstock solid contents and pH levels of the feedstock. Retention time (time required for manure staying in the TCC processor to allow oil conversion) was reduced to about 20 minutes. "With the batch reactor, we have achieved an average 70 percent conversion rate of oil from swine manure volatile solids. At this conversion rate, manure excreted by each pig during the production cycle can produce 21 gallons of crude oil. Therefore, a swine farm producing 10,000 market hogs per year can produce 5,000 barrels of crude oil per year," observes Zhang. The heating value of refined oil is reported to be similar to diesel fuel, and the researchers also intend to seek applications of the oil in making plastics or ink. Zhang can be contacted via e-mail at yzhangl@uiuc.edu.

Copyright 2004, The JG Press, Inc.