CleanBay Renewables Inc., which plans to produce natural gas and organic fertilizer from poultry litter at its property on Old Princess Anne Road in Westover, is negotiating a partnership with Evoqua Water Technologies LLC to serve as the facility’s long-term operations and maintenance service provider. Evoqua is “field-proven” in anaerobic digestion and water treatment technology which will be crucial for the bio-refinery to be successful, the company states.
CleanBay will redirect poultry litter that otherwise can lead to land and water pollution while simultaneously creating a renewable energy source and an organic fertilizer. Further, the humic acid contained within the organic fertilizer product will enable additional carbon reduction through soil remediation.
The Westover facility will require an initial fill of water into the anaerobic digester tanks which is part of an approved permit with the Maryland Department of the Environment. Mr. Spangler said this will be sourced from on-site wells and other non-drinkable water sources and will not affect the local water supply system. “Each day the plant will produce both organic fertilizer and renewable biogas,” Mr. Spangler said by email. “During this process, some moisture from the plant will be locked into the fertilizer or evaporated during gas production. The plant will need to replace this loss (less than one percent) daily. By utilizing Evoqua’s zero-liquid discharge approach, all of the remaining water from our process will be recycled back into the plant for reuse.”
Read more at The Crisfield-Somerset County Times