AC25 Addressing Future Uncertainties Through Adaptive Planning, Resulting in Intensification and Decarbonization of BNR

CWEA Members: $35.00
Non-Members $45.00

Adaptive planning serves as a valuable means to conceptualize and create designs for water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) that accommodate various stages of growth, even those that are yet unknown. By offering flexible and high-performing technology options, intensification can assist in adaptive planning and effectively address the multiple challenges that WRRFs encounter today. This presentation will highlight the adaptable planning approach and intensification strategies implemented in the secondary treatment system design for the Town of Windsor Water District (Town) to:

• decarbonize their biological nutrient removal (BNR) system in line with net zero sustainability goals
• plan for uncertain growth in a space constrained site
• meet stringent nutrient limits, both nitrogen and phosphorus

The Town’s WRRF has a limit for effluent total nitrogen and phosphorus in their NPDES permit (set at 10.5 mg-N/L and below detection limit respectively). While the WRF has been consistently meeting their permit, these stringent limitations have become constricting when considering Town’s ability to meet growth requirements. Current average influent TSS and ammonia loadings have already exceeded the WRRF’s design capacity. In addition, the Town will be consolidating with an adjacent sanitation district whose growth comes with a substantial degree of uncertainty.

The Town conducted a nutrient removal study and conceptual design in 2020, and is now implementing the detailed design of the secondary treatment system. A roadmap will be presented of the adaptive planning design for this system, which considers multiple growth scenarios for each of the Town’s influent sources.

A variety of intensification options were considered in the design, including aerobic granular sludge (AGS), primary filters and hydrocyclones. Membrane aerated bioreactors (MABR) were ultimately selected for their modular nature, low footprint, and low energy requirement, which perfectly aligns with the Town’s drivers above. The roadmap will illustrate how intensification strategies such as MABR can facilitate adaptive planning by providing phased growth design options that don’t necessarily mean expansion at each step. This part of the presentation will also include an audience driven discussion about how intensification strategies can more broadly be tailored to specific drivers, just as it was in Town’s adaptive design.
Learning Objectives:
View a roadmap of how adaptive planning can be used for phased design under uncertain and unexpected growth for WRRF’s with a multitude of drivers
Understand an example of how a specific intensification option can facilitate adaptive phased design and help tailor the design to a specific client’s needs
Describe how a variety of intensification options can meet various drivers for WRRFs including but not limited to: meeting permits, decarbonizing, address site specific challenges such as space constraints, etc.