10/22/21
NEBRA/NEWEA Host Successful “Hybrid” Residuals Conference

The North East Residuals & Biosolids conference was held on October 7th at the UMass Lowell Conference Center. For attendees, it was a long day in masks, although there was also a virtual option this year. It was nice to see and get to network with everyone from the biosolids profession in the Northeast!  Over 70 people registered to attend in person for the all-day event.  Resource Management, Inc and DN Tanks were the two exhibitors in attendance, with booths on either side of the main room where the presentations took place.  Many thanks go out to everyone involved in making this year's conference a success, especially the New England Water Environment Association (NEWEA) and its Residuals Management Committee!

Here's a quick summary of what transpired at the conference.

In the morning session, NEBRA member Marc Hebert “Zoomed” in from Quebec to talk about Montreal’s program to recover ash from sewage sludge incineration as phosphate fertilizer and a liming product, helping reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.  The report he wrote on the potential for agricultural use in Quebec was recently featured in the newsletter of the European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform - ESPP eNews no. 58 - September 2021.

Presentations by other NEBRA members included an interesting discussion with Bill Brower from Brown and Caldwell (B&C) on the potential for carbon credits from biosolids land application and the B&C tag-team of Deborah Mahoney and John Ross discussing drying and thermal treatment technologies for biosolids management.  Additional presentations were made by Amy Sowitcky of Tighe & Bond (about the Town of Southington, Connecticut’s solids handling upgrades), Robin Parker of Chemergy (about a process to recover hydrogen from wastewater solids), Jacob Engineering’s Todd Williams (with advice for adaptive Master Planning to manage PFAS in biosolids), and BioForce Tech COO Valentino Villa (all about its commercial line of biochar products, called Our Carbon - Making carbon neutrality achievable for everyone)

Update on the National Biosolids Data Project

In the final presentation of the day, NEBRA Executive Director Janine Burke-Wells was joined by NEIWPCC’s Jennifer Lichtensteiger in giving an update on the status and findings of the National Biosolids Data Project.  NEIWPCC is coordinating the survey and data collection for the 6 New England states and New York.  Not including the 7 NEIWPCC states, there are about 20 state reports completed to date, which can be accessed at www.biosolidsdata.org.  Some of the findings from the data collected to date (versus 2004 data) include:

  • Significant increase in Class A biosolids being produced nationwide

  • Moderate decrease in biosolids being incinerated

  • More pressures and incentives to divert wastewater solids from landfills

  • Significant decrease in state regulatory full-time equivalents (FTEs) dedicated to biosolids regulatory programs in many states.

    Other fun facts compiled from the data so far:

  • Average per capita biosolids used and/or disposed in the U. S. in 2018 was ~42 pounds per year!

  • Less than 1% of U.S. cropland is needed for land application of all biosolids.

  • The top 2 uses of biosolids soil amendments are for growing hay/grass for pasture/range animals and corn for animal feed (see graph). 

    Go to Annual Conference — NEBRA (nebiosolids.org) for a copy of the NBDP presentation and others as they become available.

Thanks to ALL the sponsors of the conference! Thanks to Charlie Tyler for the photos!!

In her closing remarks, NEBRA’s Janine Burke-Wells acknowledged the difficult nature of the work of managing biosolids, but stressed the importance of it.  She encouraged practitioners to prepare for the next challenge – whether that be microplastics or something else – and to let NEBRA know how we can help with these critical efforts towards more sustainable biosolids and residuals management systems.