Ostara, Epcor to Build Nutrient Recovery Technology Facility

Epcor Water Services Inc. and Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies have partnered to build the largest nutrient recovery facility in Canada. The facility will recover phosphorus from the nutrient-rich wastewater stream from the Clover Bar biosolids settling lagoons located at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre and transform it into an eco-friendly, slow-release fertilizer, sold as Crystal Green. The facility and process is being constructed by PCL Construction Management Inc. and Ostara at Clover Bar, where EPCOR discharges the biosolids produced at the Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant, which it owns and operates.

“Ostara’s process is a green win for EPCOR. Implementing Ostara’s nutrient recovery technology will help us reduce the amount of phosphorus that we are discharging to the North Saskatchewan River at the Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant. As well, a reduction of phosphorus in our global system will significantly reduce the need to use chemicals to combat struvite build-up in our treatment system,” says Gavin Post, project manager.

The nutrient recovery facility will feature Ostara’s Pearl 10,000 and once fully operational in 2015, it will have an expected annual production of at least 2,000 tons of Crystal Green fertilizer. The Ostara Pearl process will not only help the Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant meet increasingly stringent phosphorus discharge limits into the North Saskatchewan River but will also help protect the local watershed. Excess nutrient discharge into surface waters contributes to eutrophication: the growth of algae and other aquatic plants, which can reduce sunlight and oxygen levels to the point where other aquatic life cannot survive.

The facility will recover up to 85% of the phosphorus and 25% of the nitrogen from the Clover Bar biosolids settling lagoons, helping EPCOR to overcome build-up of struvite scale, a concrete-like mineral deposit caused by excess nutrients that chokes process equipment, increases operating costs and undermines plant reliability.

“Ostara’s technology is expected to provide us with greater flexibility in managing the liquid, nutrient-rich wastewater inventory at the Clover Bar biosolids settling lagoons and improve the performance of our entire wastewater treatment system,” added Post.

Ostara’s process is expected to remove 245 metric tons of phosphorus annually. The recovered phosphorus—and nitrogen—will be transformed into a slow-release, eco-friendly fertilizer called Crystal Green. The fertilizer, which is uniquely Plant-Activated, releases nutrients in response to root growth, resulting in greater efficiency, lower application rates and reduced risk of nutrient loss through leaching and runoff. It will be sold through a network of fertilizer blenders and distributors growers in the specialty agriculture, turf and ornamental markets.

EPCOR will operate the facility.

Source: Epcor, Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies