Energy Efficiency and Biofuel (E2B) Project

Biofuel Recovery Project


 The St. Cloud Wastewater Treatment Facility has installed biofuel conditioning equipment and a generator, to convert biofuel to electricity. Heat produced by the generator is recovered and used to heat buildings and the digestion process.



 Biofuel to Electricity - How Does it Work?


 Organic wastes carry energy to the digestion process. The digestion process extracts this energy in the form of biofuel. The biofuel feeds boilers to heat buildings and an engine-driven generator to produce electricity. The biofuel harvesting project converts organic wastes to renewable energy.
Diagram of the Biogas Utilization Process

Sustainability


  At 100% efficiency, the biofuel generator has the potential to generate 5.4 Million kWh's of electricity annually. In 2016, The St. Cloud Wastewater Treatment Facility purchased 5.2 Million kWh's of electricity to treat over 9.8 Million gallons of influent flow a day. Depending on daily conditions, such as solar energy potential, there will some days the facility will be running at nearly 100% renewable energy.

Energy predictions state that 80% of the facility's energy demand will come from renewable sources by the year 2018.
Diagram of energy use equivalencies for 5 million kilowatt-hours