Commentary 1 - Rock Bay Centralized - Pipes and Congested Streets

Do the Little Pieces Matter In the Big Picture?  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 apple-to-apple comparisons to be made as the public has clearly requested.

Read the full commentary here:

Pipes and Congested Streets

Cost comparison Seaterra biodigestion vs gasification

At last week’s meeting we crushed any further point in avoiding a discussion around advanced gasification.  The savings are compelling.  $330 M compared with under $100M.  Possibly under $40 M and even possibly under $20 M (15 USD).  Here are the project numbers:

$ 2,200 M Seaterra project 50 yr life cycle costs

$ 782 M Seaterra project capital cost (estimate)

$ 330 M Seaterra project Hartland capital costs

$ 300 M Seaterra staff report (rejected) cost estimate for gasification: just sewage sludge; just core area

$ 332 M Tri-regional study cost estimate for gasification of all waste for three regions: Nanaimo, Cowichan, Victoria

$ 100 M Local gasification experts gave conservative estimate to gasify sewage sludge.

$ 60 M Seaterra project costs to date

$ 40 M per yr Seaterra project debt and operating costs

$ 37 M Hamilton, gasification all waste, Quantity ~= Nanaimo, Cowichan, Victoria

$ 19 M “Bribe” offered to Esquimalt

$ 17 M Viewfield purchase

$ 16 M per yr Seaterra project operating costs

$ <20 M (15 M USD) Independent gasification expert is working on similar project, but twice our needs,

References:

IRM study

Tri Regional

Hamilton Ontario

CALWMC 2015 Orientation Part 2

The only numbers we don't provide links to are the cost estimates of under 100M and under 15M.  See below .... failure to do any due diligence.

That price of under $20 M (15 M USD) seems reasonable when you look at the Hamilton Ontario $37 M facility. That one will handle 170,000 tonnes of material a year.  To gasify just our sewage would be about 10,000 tonnes per year (very rough because the weight varies by moisture content).

The point is the cost is a gigantic step smaller than digestion.  So even if it cost $40 M or even a $100M the cost savings are incredible.

Extra numbers ....  showing possible profit
$     5 M / yr pessimistic profit as stated in 2008 integrated resource management study
$    60 M / yr optimistic profit as stated in 2008 integrated resource management study

Capital Costs Anaerobic Digestion at Hartland

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.