Sludge To Fertilizer II

Someone was thinking when they engineered this public works project. The byproduct of the digestion process is 70 percent methane gas, which is captured and piped to boilers that generate enough heat to warm the buildings on the site as well as for the heat-dependent treatment processes. The steam from those boilers is sent through a steam turbine generator (STG) producing an average of approximately 3 megawatts of electricity. The digested sludge from the giant eggs leaves Deer Island through the Inter-Island Tunnel to MWRA's pelletizing facility at Fore River in Quincy, where it is further processed into a fertilizer product.

Sludge To Fertilizer

The process being used to deal with our waste water is very efficient. After waste water is treated, digestion then occurs in 12 distinctive egg-shaped anaerobic digesters, each 90 feet in diameter and approximately 130 feet tall. Mimicking the stomach's natural digestion process, microorganisms naturally work to break sludge and scum down into methane gas, carbon dioxide, solid organic byproducts, and water. Digestion significantly reduces sludge quantity.

A Giant Dozen

These giant eggs can be seen along Boston's coastal areas. They are used in one of the final stages of our wastewater treatment.

Odor Control

The MWRA engineers developed some really strong odor eaters because I didn't detect any odors in the smoke stack area at Deer Island.

Rooftop Apparatus

Our waste water goes through a primary and secondary treatment after being pumped into the treatment plant. The secondary process raises the level of pollution removal to over 85%. The Deer Island Treatment Plant generates 130 - 220 tons of pure oxygen per day to support the secondary treatment process.

Pumping Stations

Pumping is the first stage of the water treatment process. The Deer Island Sewerage Treatment Facility has 3 main pumping areas that pump the water that comes into the facility from 4 main tunnels. One of the pump stations on site is named after Lydia Goodhue, an environmental activist and longtime member of the Advisory Board of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. She received the Ames Award for her work as a trustee of Boston Harbor Associates, and received an Outstanding Civilian Service Medal for her service to the Advisory Committee to the US Army Corps. A plaque has been placed on one of the pump stations in her honor.

Deer Island 1

While I'm away on a tropical island, I will post a series of images from Quincy's waste water treatment facility located on Deer Island in Boston Harbor. Forty-three cities and towns in Massachusetts send their waste water to this state-of-the-art facility. It is an amazing place. Do you like the road signs?