How will the facility work?
Plenary Environment will construct a fully enclosed, thermal drying facility utilising proven, Keppel Seghers HARD Pelletiser indirect dryers.
Wet biosolids from the Black Rock water reclamation plant will travel by enclosed conveyor belt to the drying facility. The drying process begins by mixing wet biosolids with dry biosolids pellets. This helps the wet biosolids form into new pellets. The mixed biosolids are then raked across the heated plates, drying and forming into biosolids pellets. As the pellets reach the edge of a plate, they fall to a plate below, where the process continues.
Water vapour produced in the dryer is condensed back to water in the condenser, which uses recycled water as the cooling medium. All of this water is returned to the Black Rock Water Reclamation Plant.
Click on the diagram above to view a larger image (opens in new browser window).
When the pellets reach the bottom of the pelletiser, a conveyor belt is used to load them into a separation hopper. At this point, some of the smaller pellets are returned to the start of the process to be mixed with wet biosolids entering the facility.
The biosolids pellets are fed into an air cooler. Once cooled, the pellets are moved by an enclosed conveyor belt to a storage silo. From here, they are loaded into trucks and transported to the end-use location, such as broad-acre farms.
To view a diagram that describes the operation of the dryers, click here.
Comprehensive treatment of all emissions to EPA and contractual requirements means this fully enclosed process will not produce any odours at the Black Rock Water Reclamation Plant boundary or any visible emissions.
The facility is to be located adjacent to the existing Black Rock Water Reclamation Plant.