Wastewater Heat Recovery: Technologies and Applications

ABSTRACT

Heat recovery from raw sewage and wastewater effluent is a technically feasible, economical, and sustainable energy substitute to conventional carbon-based energy sources. It is an abundant and stable resource, available worldwide, and with relative proximity to users.

This presentation will review and compare current wastewater heat recovery technologies and system configurations, discussing respective advantages and possible challenges. Wastewater heat recovery applications will be introduced, with a focus on district energy systems (DES).

The successful performance of the Whistler Athletes’ Village DES, which uses effluent energy, and Southeast False Creek Neighbourhood Energy Utility, which uses raw sewage energy, has put wastewater heat recovery DES under the spotlight in British Columbia, fostering large interest from municipalities and industries across the province. Steps and incentives to encourage projects will be discussed.

Key learning points are:

• How to make use of a wasted resource
• How to engage stakeholders for new DES projects in BC

BIOGRAPHY

Alex Charpentier is a project engineer in KWL’s Energy, Industrial & Mining Sector, with significant expertise in energy policy, conventional and alternative energy systems, life cycle assessment methods, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions modelling. He completed life cycle energy inventories and GHG emissions models throughout his doctoral studies with direct collaboration with the industry. Alex is involved in district energy studies for various municipalities and contributes to energy policy projects.

John Hart is a senior wastewater treatment engineer with 17 years of experience in wastewater treatment, hazardous waste management, air pollution, and environmental auditing. John’s first degree is in Chemical Engineering and was followed by a Masters degree in Civil/Environmental Engineering. Following his initial work in Eastern Canada, he started his consulting career in B.C. in 1997. His experience includes work for a wide variety of municipal and industrial clients in British Columbia, across Canada and China.

Mike Homeuke has been with KWL for 7 years since graduating from UBC, and specializes in GIS-based municipal infrastructure analysis and planning, with a focus on sanitary sewer systems and energy resources. His recent work includes development of sewer system hydraulic models, capital plans, sewer rehabilitation and I&I reduction programs, electrical generation resource planning and district energy planning. Mike’s current focus includes developing GIS solutions for engineering applications, including sewer asset management, district energy and web-based GIS.

Kia Zahrabi graduated from McGill University in May 2007 with a B.Eng. in Civil and a minor in Environmental Engineering. Kia worked for two years for a civil engineering consulting firm in the BC Interior prior to joining KWL in January 2010. His past experiences include computer modeling, system analysis, planning, detailed design and project coordination on a variety of municipal and environmental engineering projects. Past projects have involved water supply and distribution systems, sewage collection, treatment and disposal systems, district energy systems, as well as stormwater drainage and land development.