Commentary 2 - Congested Pipes and Costs

A free technical commentary on the CRD Core Area Sewage Treatment Project

The CALWMC proposes to submit three new concepts for sewage treatment for further detailed analysis to an independent consultant. A technical oversight panel is to ensure engineering, business case, lifecycle costing and other project analysis is properly conducted by the consultant to enable fair apples-to-apples comparisons to be made as the public has clearly requested.

Read the full Commentary here:

Congested Pipes and Costs

CFAX interview with Ian Jessop about Tertiary Distributed with Gasification

Bryan's CFAX  interview with Ian Jessop starts at the 34 minute mark.

https://soundcloud.com/ian-jessop-cfax/may-7-1pm-1

The topic was to explain how a vendor could project a total CRD sewage system for just $250 million.

See http://theriteplan.blogspot.ca/2015/05/tertiary-distributed-with-gasification_5.html for more information on the vendor's proposal.

Comments from listeners after the recording was posted .... More comments welcome below.


Clear, Factual, Engaged, Knowledgeable RESPECTFUL and RITEOUS :-} Ta!

Wow. That was a good interview

Excellent ... rocked it big time!

Got the message out the the public wants more information from experts.

I love how you were explaining... that's what this word means, that's what that word means. So good.

Man, that Ian Jessop is one smart, cool headed investagative reporter. Kudos for his excellent public service. he deserves an award! Thank-You Ian for your #1 work!

[the] opening descriptors were so wonderfully straightforward and simplified ... had me listening with new thoughts!

Especially liked your pizza oven example to explain gasification! Brilliant!

Seaterra Plan Full Life Cycle Costs

CALWMC 2015 Orientation Part 2

Extract of April 8th 2015 CALWMC presentation

Extract of April 8th 2015 CALWMC, my presentation

https://youtu.be/wl_XtQmenG8

Slide deck.
https://drive.google.com/…/0B1Kog53fI42ETFVzNHprUGpzN…/view…

Enjoy all those cost numbers getting smaller and smaller, while doing more for the environment!

This presentation was all about the residuals: how to manage the solids.  In the Seaterra plan the water is not reclaimed and must be sent out to the ocean via a long outfall. It also pumps the sludge 18km up to Hartland for digestion.  The capital costs of this are $300M.  The operating cost are offset by a small amount of revenue.  The process converts about 50% to energy and the remainder will be sent up island to be used "beneficially". This is code for spread on land.  In other words, pollute the forest which is a watershed.

The RITE plan advocates we consider tertiary water treatment which reclaims the water for use or to be discharged directly into the shore.  We also want to consider gasification that fully destroys the toxins in the sludge while producing nearly twice the energy output of digestion with a small amount of ask left over (useful in building products).
We contacted vendors and experts. One expert said he is working on a similar project that will cost under $15M US.   Gasification energy outputs are so high they make money from the start.  Reducing the capital costs by $315M; saving the huge interest payments on that debt; converting operating costs into revenue saves our region $2 Billion dollars over the lifetime of the project.

Replication of these results is quite simple.  

1. Perform a search of the internet for sewage sludge and gasification.
2. Contact the companies who are involved.
3. Ask them to suggest independent experts.
4. Ask them to tell you about similar projects.

How to save a billion

The CRD / Seaterra plan has operating costs which add up to over 1.1 billion over the life of the project. It also needs over $300 million capital to build the “resource recovery centre” to treat the sewage residuals.  This capital cost needs to be financed and that adds interest expenses. The revenue from this was small and has possibly been reduced substantially since the initial project plan was made. There are options to this ‘resource recovery center’ which cost less and are more effective.  They need to be properly and independently evaluated and this has not been done.

Experts in the field say that advanced gasification could cost a little less than $100 M and make money.  This saves $200 M in capital costs; saves interest costs; saves 1.1 billion in operating cost; and possibly makes money.

This saves well over a billion dollars.