ELECTRICITY AND HEAT WITH WASTE GENERATED BY WASTEWATER TREATMENT: THE CASE OF CAMDEN

New Jersey's Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority (CCMUA) has decided to upgrade biosolid processing at its wastewater plant. The plant processes wastewater from 37 municipalities in the county, including the city of Camden. This allowed the facility to collect and process post-consumer fats and oils and similar waste. The project helped CCMUA turn the plant into a center for resource recovery and renewable energy generation. Electricity and heat are in fact generated by the 2 x 1.9 MW cogeneration plant fueled by biogas and natural gas (Dual Fuel). The electricity produced is used to power the loads inside the wastewater treatment plant, and the heat recovered from the jacket water of the cogeneration engine heats the digestors. Camden County residents benefit from the system through a reduction in the cost of processing and disposing of biosolids and through the production of renewable energy. This has allowed significantly reducing the quantity of electricity obtained from the grid, thus improving resilience to climate change.