Bergen County Utilities Authority
Little Ferry, NJ
Bergen County Utilities Authority
Energy Sustainability Project
Richard M. Cestone, PE, CHMM
Bergen County Utilities Authority
BCUA
Little Ferry Water Pollution Control Facility
• In service since 1951
• Expanded through the 1970s, 80s and 90s.
• Design Capacity: 109 MGD Maximum Month
• Provides secondary treatment.
• Discharges treated water into the Hackensack
River.
The BCUA owns and operates seven pumping
stations in the Little Ferry WPCF collection (sewer)
system.
(Municipalities in service area own sewers and
combined sewer overflows.)
Bergen County Utilities Authority
BCUA
Energy
Sources
Existing BCUA Heating and Electricity:
• Electricity purchased from PSE&G and South
Jersey Energy (lighting and electric blower
motor operation)
• Natural Gas purchased from PSE&G and
Direct Energy fueling sludge dewatering
boilers and CHP Cogeneration Unit
• Kerosene to fuel backup emergency turbines
• No. 2 fuel oil for boilers at pump building,
administrative building and warehouse
• Biogas generated from five anaerobic digesters
fueling CHP Cogeneration Unit , pump building
and warehouse boilers
Bergen County Utilities Authority
Power
Supply
Mitigation
Goal: Maintain wastewater service at all times,
including outage/fluctuations in the PSE&G
electrical power grid.
Approach: Create a new power supply microgrid as
the primary source of electricity. The PSE&G
electrical power grid will be the secondary or
standby source.
•
•
•
Based on the expansion of existing biogas powered
CHP electric generator system.
Use sustainable primary fuel – Biogas from the on-site
digestion of sewage sludge (biosolids), brown grease
and food organics.
Use natural gas from the PSE&G piping network as
the secondary or standby fuel for CHP.
Bergen County Utilities Authority
Power
Supply
Backup
Mitigation
New Power Supply Microgrid Project will include:
• New third CHP electric generator
• New energy efficient aeration blowers
• Upgrades to the digester system to enhance
on-site biogas fuel production and provide
storage
• New brown grease and food waste receiving
and processing system to augment biogas
production
• Project was warranted by the BCUA’s Energy
Master Plan released in 2009.
Bergen County Utilities Authority
BCUA’s
History of
Biogas Use
BCUA used biogas as a supplemental use in
boilers beginning in 1980.
In 1995, the BCUA installed 1.3 MW Caterpillar
gas fired engines for their air blower system
providing air to their aeration tanks. The engines
were designed to burn natural gas and biogas.
A gas pretreatment system was installed to
remove siloxanes from biogas which addressed
initial performance and pollution problems.
Bergen County Utilities Authority
CHP
Cogeneration
Facility
•
The BCUA blower engine success was the model for
installation of other engines burning biogas, although
it was decommissioned in 2014 after a 19 year run.
•
Based on the lessons learned from the blower
engines, the BCUA constructed an CHP
Cogeneration Facility at their Little Ferry WPCF in
2006.
•
Two 1.4 MW General Electric (GE) Jenbacher
internal combustion engines were installed and have
the capability of burning both natural gas and biogas
generated from the anaerobic digesters.
Bergen County Utilities Authority
CHP
Cogeneration
Facility
Bergen County Utilities Authority
CHP
Cogeneration
Facility
•
The CHP facility located next to the Blower Engine
Building commenced operation in 2008.
•
The facility was able to save over $15 million to date
in what would’ve been the cost for natural gas and
electricity.
•
In turned the facility saved ozone generating and
greenhouse gas emissions from not flaring off the
biogas but also from the generation of electricity that
would have been purchased from off site.
•
The BCUA CHP facility was deemed a great success
and won awards from the NJDEP, Association of
Environmental Authorities (AEA) and Board of Public
Utilities (BPU). However, there is always room to
improve.
Bergen County Utilities Authority
CHP
Cogeneration
Facility
•
•
•
The Energy Master Plan indicated that CHP
cogeneration unit being the hall mark of the
plan. However, the unit did provide enough
heat and electricity for the whole facility and the
engines did not have black start capability.
In 2013, the BCUA released a pilot study
indicating that fats, oils and grease (FOG)
injected in the sludge before anaerobic
digestion can generate an additional 8.3 cubic
feet of biogas per gallon of FOG.
This results in a need to expand the CHP
Cogeneration Facility by adding a third engine.
Bergen County Utilities Authority
Additions
to the CHP
Facility
•
On October 25, 2013, the BCUA was awarded a $2.5
million grant from the Renewable Energy Incentive
Program (REIP) to help fund the installation of the
third CHP engine.
•
Also the BCUA has been approved of a $7.3 million
low interest loan from the New Jersey Infrastructure
Financing Program (NJEIFP).
•
These monies are enough to cover the cost of the
installation of engine.
•
The BCUA is applying for the Energy Resilience Bank
(ERB) loan to cover black start upgrades to the CHP
Unit, biogas storage and flood protection.
Bergen County Utilities Authority
Black Start
Capabilities
• Currently, the BCUA has three kerosenefired back-up turbines to operate the
plant in case of a power outage.
• The engines have the capability of
operating the wastewater treatment
areas and sludge processing while the
CHP unit is turned off.
• The CHP engines can operate during
extended power outages if kerosene is
depleted and cannot be delivered.
Bergen County Utilities Authority
Acknowledgements
for BCUA
Chairman – Ronald Phillips
Executive Director – Robert E.
Laux
Director of Engineering – Dominic
DiSalvo, P.E.
Director of Water Pollution Control
– Stephen Askew
Bergen County Utilities Authority
Contact
Information
• Richard M. Cestone, PE, CHMM
Remington & Vernick Engineers
232 Kings Highway East
Haddonfield, NJ 08033
(856) 795-9595
Richard.Cestone@rve.com
Bergen County Utilities Authority
Questions?
Bergen County Utilities Authority