Assessing the Feasibility of Anaerobic Digestion at the Bridgewater, MA Wastewater Treatment Plant

Mortimer, Evelyn; Zmich, Rachael; Gifford, Maia

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Assessing the Feasibility of Anaerobic Digestion at the Bridgewater, MA Wastewater Treatment Plant

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The Town of Bridgewater Wastewater Treatment Plant is designing a facility upgrade in cooperation with Stantec. As an alternative to landfill sludge disposal, our team worked with Stantec to evaluate the process of anaerobic digestion (AD). An AD system was designed with the physical, structural, chemical, and electrical elements of a reactor, using mass-balance calculations and modeling software such as Revit and GPS-X. We then performed an economic analysis to compare costs with and without AD. We concluded that although AD is feasible at this facility, it is costly. Despite high upfront investment, AD is an opportunity for small wastewater treatment plants to increase environmental sustainability by reducing solid waste and producing renewable energy.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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