Page 10 - Tomlinson Times - Spring 2016

lySTEK INTERNATIONAl

uPdAte on neW LYStek omrC – fSSd

the perfect public-private partnership with positive environmental

outcomes in Fairield, California

All eyes are on a new Lystek project scheduled for completion in Fairfield, California late this spring.

The construction and launch of Lystek’s first, U.S.-based Organic Material Recovery Center (OMRC)

in partnership with the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District (FSSD) is a large-scale project. It is expected

to be a game changer in terms of the area’s approach to biosolids management and it will have a

significant and lasting impact both for the District and the entire San Francisco Bay Area.

Tradiional wastewater treatment processes haven’t

changed all that much over the course of the last century. While
they’ve evolved somewhat to incorporate new techniques and

align with new requirements, the overall process of producing

clean water from wastewater results in letover biosolids that

have historically had limited, beneicial uses, most notably

as a soil amendment to restore degraded condiions, or

to mix with compost or for use as a daily cover at landills.

However, this new venture will see Lystek working in the true
spirit of partnership with the FSSD to bring in new, innovaive

technology and disrupt the tradiional approach. Not only will

this undertaking support the exising facility as it coninues to Fairield-Suisun’s exising water and wastewater treatment

funcion as it should, but it will also convert what was once plant was constructed in the late 1970s. The wastewater plant

primarily viewed as a “waste” material into a range of fully has long produced a biosolid that has typically been used as

recoverable resources with a wide variety of applicaions.
daily cover at the local landill. While this has certainly worked

Now, with both organizaions working together as well for many years, California is now placing more and
partners, the FSSD plant will coninue to produce clean water more emphasis on divering organic materials from landills.

and the Lystek OMRC – FSSD will make full use of Lystek’s Therefore, the forward-looking team at FSSD recognized

low temperature, low cost, Thermal Hydrolysis technology that the lifespan of their daily landill cover program may be

to advance wastewater treatment. The system will convert limited. As a result, the search for new and innovaive uses for

biosolids and other organic feedstock into a Class A, Excepional this material or other ways to manage the output of the WWTP

Quality (EQ) bioferilizer product (trademarked as LysteGroTM) was ampliied.

which will then be marketed and uilized in agriculture, It was during this search that conversaions were iniiated
horiculture and a variety of other applicaions in California. with Lystek, because, at the same ime, Lystek had undertaken

The iniiaive will also leverage the LysteMizeTM approach to a search for innovaive project opportuniies as part of its

plant opimizaion in which treated material is fed back into expansion plans for the U.S. market; in paricular California

anaerobic digesters (AD) to reduce volumes and GHG’s while (as a staring point). Ater many posiive conversaions,

signiicantly increasing biogas producion for conversion into both organizaions agreed there was great potenial to work

green energy. This will subsequently help to power the plant together with it being determined that Lystek would be willing

and reduce operaional costs, serving as an exemplary model and able to make use of unused assets and/or under-uilized
of what can be accomplished when a wastewater treatment infrastructure and capacity at the FSSD locaion.

plant (WWTP) is successfully converted into a Wastewater As discussions progressed, synergies between the two,

Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF). As ime goes by, and the muli award-winning organizaions became more and more

process and partnership coninues to evolve, the potenial for obvious. It just made sense to combine Lystek’s proven and

addiional advancements will also be explored.
advanced innovaions with the exising infrastructure, capacity

10 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE TOMLINSON TIMES SPRING 2016