To increase energy self-sufficiency and curb increased costs, many water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) have embraced energy recovery technologies.  The goal of this report is to summarize “sprint” data collection activities, which took place during 2014 as part of a larger collection effort aimed at determining the beneficial use of biogas within the water environment industry.  In a continuous effort to update the larger collection of national data compiled in 2013 (see, Biogas Production and Use at Water Resource Recovery Facilities), additional smaller, targeted collection efforts with shorter project timeframes (i.e., sprints) focused on filling the data gaps where identified.  To that end, this report highlights data compiled for the states in U.S. EPA Region 4, and also provides data from the state of Texas in U.S. EPA region 6 to provide a regional snapshot comparison.  Texas was chosen as part of the comparison because a large amount of additional data had been gathered for the state during the past year. As data continues to be supplemented, additional regional reports will be released.  The site-specific data can be found at www.biogasdata.org.

The findings highlighted in this report also incorporate secondary data sets that describe economic, financial, environmental, and regulatory conditions, which may provide insights into biogas utilization activities.  Previous surveys and reporting note that the most significant obstacle for the beneficial use of biogas continues to be economic (see, Enabling the Future: Advancing Resource Recovery from Biosolids).  Although there are a variety of factors that drive decision-making, it is worth noting that U.S. EPA’s new renewable fuel standard (RFS) ruling should be considered in the overall comparison of factors in future reporting. (See also Moving Toward Resource Recovery Facilities for further information regarding drivers of resource recovery, available tools, and guidance on WRRF resource recovery.)

Order No: NBP1501
Medium: PDF Download
Pages: 34
Publishers: National Biosolids Partnership and the Water Environment Federation
Year: 2015