LTC Pfluger Publishes Article in the Journal of Cleaner Production

LTC Andrew Pfluger, in collaboration with Dr. Linda Figueroa, and with co-authors Jason Coontz, Veronika Zhiteneva, Teigan Gulliver, Lisa Cherry, and Liam Cavanaugh from the Colorado School of Mines, published an article in the Journal of Cleaner Production titled “Anaerobic digestion and biogas beneficial use at municipal wastewater treatment facilities in Colorado: A case study examining barriers to widespread implementation”. In 2004 the state of Colorado became the first state in the U.S. to implement a renewable energy standard. Electrical utilities have met the state's energy goals using a combination of wind, hydroelectric, and solar power, while giving relatively little consideration to biogas generated from domestic wastewater treatment (i.e., biomass accounts for < 0.1% of renewable energy used in Colorado). An examination of wastewater treatment facilities designed to treat flowrates >7570 m3d-1 indicates that energy generated from the anaerobic digestion of wastewater sludge and combined heat and power technologies is limited in Colorado. At the time of this study, only 39% of examined facilities used anaerobic digestion and only 4 of 24 anaerobic digestion facilities actively employed combined heat and power. Barriers to widespread implementation of anaerobic digestion and combined heat and power were primarily associated with costs, e.g., infrastructure or equipment capital costs; however, other barriers were identified, including: effectiveness of available grant and loan programs, state-level regulations, electric utility rate structures, the influence of local decision-making authorities, and a reluctance by wastewater treatment facilities to change sludge digestion practices. Read More.