Presentation by Ray Fullerton on proposed Liberty Energy sludge incinerator in Hamilton, Ontario.

1. Biosolids Incinerator Proposals
for the City of Hamilton
Ray Fullerton BSc. Retired ArclelorMittal Dofasco Research Engineer
Presented at the General Issues Committee Meeting on May 9, 2011
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2. 38 Years of Experience - Manufacturing Processes
• process improvement/product development
• cokemaking
• environmental
• Baycoat prepaint
• tinplate
• galvanizing
• line trials & lab process simulation
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3. Historical Timeline - Incinerator
Fall 2009
• UNSOLICITED Proposal from Liberty Energy
• 1st Peer Review requested
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4. Historical Timeline - Incinerator
Spring 2010
• Black & Veatch Peer Review paid by City ($50K)
• Staff Report recommends City Incinerator
• Presentations by Black & Veatch and Liberty
• Staff Report rejected by Public Works and Council
• Council requests 2nd Peer Review (Joe Rinaldo)
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5. Information sources
• staff report Business Review - Liberty Proposed Incinerator (PW07047c)
• attended the Public Works Committee meeting on April 19, 2010 and listened to
the presentations of :
• CEO Wilson Nolan and Controller Peter Bloom of Liberty Energy
• James Welp of Black and Veatch who prepared the first independent peer
review
• attended passionate City Council Meeting on April 28,2010
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6. Information sources
Liberty Energy Centre Website
Biosolids 1089 tonnes/day
Biomass 417 tonnes/day
Liberty Energy Centre will be a nominal 11.6 MW power plant
with a plant load of 1.6 MW, allowing up to 10.0 MW to be
exported to the grid. Under normal operating conditions this
facility will use up to 1506 tonnes per day of Waste Biomass
consisting of 1089 tonnes per day of biosolids and 417
tonnes per day of biomass as fuel1. Biosolids are the solids
recovered from wastewater treatment plants, also known as
sewage sludge. The facility is designed to accommodate both
undigested and digested sewage sludge. Biomass used by this
facility will include urban green waste (grass, brush and tree
clippings), clean dimensional lumber, urban forestry waste and
horticultural waste. 6
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7. Questions you should ponder?
•Do you want the City of Hamilton to be known as a
Regional Biosolids Centre for the Province of
Ontario by treating the biosolids of 3,745,000 people of
Ontario, that is 29% of the population of
Ontario at the Liberty Energy incinerator?
•Do you want an additional 26,000 trucks
annually entering the City of Hamilton due to transporting
biosolids and biomass to the Liberty Energy incinerator?
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8. Questions you should ponder?
•Do you want a LARGE capacity incinerator to
be built by Liberty Energy? (note: the Liberty Energy
incinerator is TEN times larger than the City
incinerator)
•Do you want the City to assume a large financial risk;
since Liberty Energy has no customers (fuel supply contracts) ?
•Do you want the image/city rank to be
downgraded.
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9. Triple Bottom Line Assessment
• Environmentally Responsible
• Financially Sustainable
• Socially Accountable
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10. TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE COMPARISON
Triple
City Liberty
Parameter Bottom Line
Incinerator Incinerator
Concern
Ontario Municipal Regional Environmental
Population
500,000 3,745,000 Society (image)
Treated
Biosolids
Environmental
Capacity 53,000 397,000
(tonnes/year) (air emissions)
Biomass
Environmental
Capacity 0 153,000
(tonnes/year) (air emissions)
Total
Environmental
Capacity 53,000 550,000
(tonnes/year) (air emissions)
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11. TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE COMPARISON
Triple
City Liberty
Parameter Bottom Line
Incinerator Incinerator
Concern
Truck traffic 0 26,000 Environment
per year (conveyor 71/DAY (odour, noise, air
3/HR
(18 wheeler load capacity is ~ 21 tonnes)
system on site) pollution)
no change Society ( image,
Image “stool”city
Woodward WWTP city rank)
Customers
(Fuel Supply confirmed pending Financial
Contracts)
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12. Incinerator Recommendation
The proposed City incinerator is
the green solution to biosolids
management
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13. Stewardship decision?
Your Decision on Biosolids Management will impact
the Triple Bottom Line
1. Environment (air emissions, truck traffic)
2. Financial (customer risk)
3. Society (image & city rank)
of the City of Hamilton for the next 30 Years!
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14. Citizens Against Toxic Sludge
• California Attorney Ben Goldstein, in a letter to the Banning
City Council pointed out that Liberty Energy misrepresented
their project to the City of Banning as a “power plant” while
in reality it is a feces burning toxic sludge incinerator
• Liberty Energy incinerator will emit carcinogenic materials
into the air that the people of Banning breath
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15. Liberty Energy Proposal History
Date Location Status Comment
2003 Imperial ,California Rejected Planning Commission rejected application as a “green power plant”;
circumventing proper approval process for an incinerator
2005 Hamilton, Ontario Pending Peer Review 2
2006 Brawley, California Rejected community opposition to an incinerator
2008 Niland, California Rejected Measure X, an ordinance that bans the importation of sewage sludge
with the intent to dispose of it in Imperial County
2008 Banning, California Rejected Ordinance No. 1410 Prohibit the burning, thermal conversion, or
partial thermal conversion of any class of sewage sludge or biosolids
to ash
2009 Lost Hills, California Pending proposal to build an incinerator adjacent to an existing Liberty
composting facility; draft Environmental Impact Review completed
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16. Vote NO to Liberty Energy
• NO fuel contracts/customers to supply biosolids /biomass
• UNPROVEN fuel technology 72% biosolids & 28% biomass
• UNCONFIRMED FIT eligibility - requires biomass as a fuel
• UNHEALTHY due to Environmental Risks (stack & trucks)
• DETRIMENTAL to the City Image/Rank
• REJECTED by 4 California cities
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17. Any Questions or
Comments?
raymond.fullerton@gmail.com
THANK YOU!
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