Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility

Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility (CVWRF)

Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility (CVWRF), in Salt Lake City, Utah, is Utah’s largest wastewater treatment facility, with a capacity of 75 million gallons of water treated daily. CVWRF produces energy from methane gas captured during anaerobic digestion of biosolids and food waste.

CVWRF recently upgraded its 1.3MW CHP system, which is a critical element in the plant’s daily operation and success. The CHP system serves as the primary and standby source of power and currently produces over 85 percent of the electrical power needs. In addition, the engine heat from the GE Jenbacher biogas/natural gas fuel reciprocating engine generators is harnessed by a heat recovery system for sludge digester heating and for building and tunnel space heating. Engine jacket water heat and exhaust heat from the cogeneration engines is captured and fed a BROAD single stage hot water absorption chiller to provide cooling for the facility.

Instead of running a cooling tower, this system utilizes treated wastewater to take the heat away and discharge it to the Mill Creek nearby, saving tons of water and electricity.

Specific Benefits for Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) CHP:

Produces power at a cost below retail electricity.
Displaces purchased fuels for thermal needs.
May qualify as a renewable fuel source under state renewable portfolio standards and utility green power programs.
Enhance reliability for the plant.
Produces more useful energy than if the WWTP were to use biogas solely to meet digester heat loads.
Reduces emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants
Utility peak load shedding

Fun Facts:

A typical WWTP processes 100 gallons per day of wastewater for each person served.
Each million gallons per day(MGD) of wastewater flow can produce enough biogas in an anaerobic digester to produce 30kw of electric capacity and 2.4 million Btu per day(MMBtu/day) of thermal energy in a CHP system.
The cost to generate electricity using CHP at WWTPs ranges from 1.1 to 8.3 cents per kilowatt-hour(kWh) depending on the CHP prime mover and other factors. (Current retail electric rates range from 3.9 to over 21 cents per kWh)