Nation’s First Wastewater Biodiesel Plant Being Planned

daltonutil In what’s being touted as a first of its kind for the country, a city in Georgia says it will use its wastewater to grow algae to make into biodiesel.

The Daily Citizen of Dalton, Georgia reports Dalton Utilities plans to build a pilot project to use with its land application system along the Conasauga River:

“We are working on the design now,” said Mark Marlowe, Dalton Utilities’ vice president of water and wastewater engineering. “We hope to start construction in the fall or winter of this year, and complete construction in fall or winter. The startup will take several months. But it should be fully operational by the spring of 2010.”

The pilot facility will be about an acre in size, capable of treating roughly 200 to 500 gallons of wastewater a day with algae that will feed on the nutrients in the water.

The utility has partnered with the University of Georgia in the effort. And K.C. Das, director of the university’s Biorefinery and Carbon Cycling Program, says the facility will be the first of its kind in the nation…

Das said they expect to get about 430 to 450 gallons of biodiesel per acre per year to start. And larger facilities may be able to make even more.

“The target is 2,000 gallons (per acre per year),” Das said.

DU officials say they the algae will eat the phosphorous in the water, removing it from the wastewater… growing fuel while cleaning up the environment!