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MABF Webinar: Pioneering Hydrothermal Liquefaction - Research, Piloting and Steps Towards Commercialization
Tuesday, February 11, 2025, 12:00 AM - 1:30 PM EST
Category: Webinar

feb 2025 webinar

Register now! Click HERE to register today!

This webinar series delves into the transformative potential of hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) technology for wastewater and biosolids management. It covers the process of converting sewage sludge into valuable energy products, feedback from what the wastewater community wants from such a technology, background and updates on North America's first demonstration-scale HTL facility, and innovative advancements aimed at improving reliability and eventual commercialization of the technology. Attendees will gain insights of the HTL process works, process benefits, first hand experience and lessons learned of developing such a demonstration facility and vision for the future of HTL could look like and how it can lead to sustainable sludge management.

COST:
Member: $25
Nonmember: $50

Moderator: DJ Wacker, Brown and Caldwell

Presentation 1: Hydrothermal Liquefaction for Solid Waste Reduction, Energy Efficiency, Decarbonization, and PFAS destruction
Summary: This webinar will discuss the process of hydrothermal liquefaction for converting sewage sludge into useful energy products, including diesel fuel and renewable natural gas. We will provide an overview of the process itself, including key steps and options. Benefits include up to 5-fold reduction in solid waste, destruction of PFAS, co-production of useful products, decarbonization of wastewater treatment, and improvements in energy efficiency. A key challenge is understanding the needs of wastewater treatment providers, and a major objective of this webinar is to solicit input from the community. The team is preparing to launch a survey aimed at gathering more data and this webinar is an opportunity for community input to that survey.
Speakers: Julian Bennett, Chemical Engineering Graduate Student, WPI
Amelia Thomas, CEO, River Otter Renewables, Inc.
Michael Timko, Professor of Chemical Engineering, WPI
Julia Faeth, Program Manager, RAPID Manufacturing Institute

Presentation 2: Hydrothermal Liquefaction Demonstration Facility using Wastewater Sludge
Summary: Metro Vancouver is constructing North America’s first demonstration-scaled HTL facility using wastewater biomass as a feedstock. The facility will process 10 wet tonnes per day of primary and secondary sludge and will send biocrude to a nearby refinery for co-processing. This webinar will present Metro Vancouver’s journey from an initial PNNL trial with sludge to Board approval of the demonstration to inform future potential for dealing with increasing quantities of sludge in the region. The presentation will include lessons learned during design and a 5-year research program on HTL by-products.
Speakers: Lillian Zaremba, Program Manager, Collaborative Innovation, Metro Vancouver

Presentation 3: GLWA’s/DOE’s/BETO’s Research into Hydrothermal Liquefaction to Convert Organic Wet Wastes to Transportation Fuels
Summary: John will present an overview of the BETO/DOE project that GLWA was awarded, and that is currently in its final budget period. The project has explored technical and public stakeholder interest and support, developed life-cycle analysis (LCA) and techno-economic analyses (TEA) for the process at GLWA, and is currently pilot testing sludge and other feedstock processing using Genifuel’s trailer-mounted HTL and CHG system. Ongoing testing will include process PFAS-PFOA disposition when fed indigenous and PFAS/PFOA-spiked sludge to biocrude, ash, aqueous-phase, or gas-phase end points.
Speaker: John Willis, Brown and Caldwell

Register now! Click HERE to register today!