A novel 98 kW Heat2Hydro – Rackam test wastewater treatment system in Surprise, Arizona, was started up this summer. This is a test project which demonstrates the use of solar energy to efficiently dry the sludge byproduct generated from wastewater treatment process and to evaluate the effectiveness of this solution.
Picture by Angelo Chialva, Heat2Hydro, Inc.
“We are proud of this pilot project which is designed to prove the relevance of using solar concentrating systems for wastewater treatment. We have worked closely with the company and the professional team of Heat2Hydro, Inc., business partners in the United States, “explains Rackam Vice President, Jacques-Alexandre Fortin.
This project demonstrates that the heat generated by solar parabolic solar concentrators may be used to dry sludge. The parabolic solar concentrators developed by Rackam, are coated with mirrors. When the mirrors are oriented towards the sun, they concentrate the sunlight on the fluid in tubes. The fluid is heated considerably and the heat is transferred to the sludge from the city’s wastewater treatment system where it is dried.
This pilot project is a success and will be scaled up to treat the entire city’s wastewater sludge. The solar power plant will be expanded to generate 5 MW thermal (50 times the heat of the the test system), enabling the City of Surprise to treat all its sludge and sludge from neighboring cities using 100% renewable energy.
For more information:
Jacques-Alexandre Fortin, vice-president of Rackam: ja.fortin@rackam.com
Angelo Chialva, Chief Technology Officer, Heat2Hydro, Inc: Angelo@heat2hydro.com
rackam.com
