Clos du Bois Tests New Wastewater Treatment System

Cambrian Innovation is bringing its bioelectric
wastewater treatment system to Northern
California wine country.
at cost to the winery. But winery
wastewater contains energy that
can be used to offset (or eliminate)
treatment and disposal costs.
BIOELECTRIC SYSTEM
TECHNOLOGY
Clos du Bois Tests New
Bioelectric
BY T E
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D RIEGER, SENIOR FEATURE EDITOR
ambrian Innovation of Boston, Mass., and Clos du Bois
Winery in Geyserville, Calif.,
have cooperatively field-tested the
world’s first industrial-scale bioelectric wastewater treatment system.
A demonstration scale system was
installed and operational at the winery during the 2012 crush, and it
continued to operate successfully
through the summer of 2013, processing 10% of the winery’s total
wastewater output.
Dr. Matthew Silver, a graduate
of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is CEO of Cambrian
Innovation, a spinout company
from MIT that commercializes environmental products and technologies based on newly discovered
electrically active microbes.
The phenomenon of bacteria
capable of direct electric transfer
was discovered in 1999.
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V I N E YA R D & WINE RY MANAGEM ENT
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Silver said the EcoVolt bioelectric system is a relatively smallfootprint anaerobic wastewater
system that treats water for reuse
and can significantly reduce energy
costs and cut a winery’s carbon
dioxide emissions by 2 kilograms
(kg) per case of wine production.
The system can also reduce wastewater solids levels to save time
and money compared with processing or transporting them for
disposal.
According to Silver, existing
wastewater treatment systems
nationwide consume more than 3%
of the total electricity used annually in the United States. The average U.S. winery produces 12-23
gallons of wastewater per case of
wine produced. This wastewater is
commonly treated in aerated ponds
that consume significant electricity
to power pumps and cover acreage
that might be put to better use. Or
wastewater is sent to the sewer
Sept - Oct 2013
Bioelectricity is the generation
or consumption of electrical current by living organisms. Certain
microbes generate electricity while
degrading organic matter, and others consume electrical current
while generating value-added products. The EcoVolt system for winery wastewater uses bacteria to
carry out both reactions on biologically coated electrodes. Organisms
on an anode oxidize organic matter
in the wastewater to generate electric current. Organisms on a cathode convert carbon dioxide and this
electric current into methane fuel.
This process, called electromethanogenesis, occurs in the EcoVolt reactor to convert wastewater
pollutants into electricity and subsequently convert electricity into
methane fuel. This methane can
then fuel a cogeneration turbine to
generate electricity and heat that
can be used onsite at the winery.
Clos du Bois is an appropriate
site to test the EcoVolt. The winery
has a history of using sustainable
practices throughout its operation,
and has ongoing goals to reduce
water and energy use for wine processing. Clos du Bois produces 2
million cases of wine annually and
generates about 14.5 million gallons of wastewater per year. Its
ratio of 7.25 gallons of wastewater
to one case of wine produced is
low by wine industry standards.
The winery previously tested an
innovative wastewater system, the
Biothane Biodigester installed in
2002, an anaerobic system designed
to reduce wastewater solids levels
by converting them to methane gas
(see the article in V&WM’s January/
February 2004 issue). Brian Hemphill, director of operations at Clos du
Bois, said the Biothane technology
was sound, but the system was not
properly sized to the facility, and it
required significant operator oversight. It was later decommissioned,
and Clos du Bois went back to using
more traditional aerated wastewater ponds. However, infrastructure
for the Biothane system was still in
place that could be connected with
the EcoVolt, such as a particulate
removal and solids settling tank, and
an equalization tank to homogenize
the wastewater prior to entering the
EcoVolt’s reactor treatment unit.
INSTALLATION AND OPERATION
Cambrian previously called its
system ExoGen, but it is now EcoVolt. It is designed as a modular
system, assembled by Cambrian
in standard units the size of cargo
shipping containers, which are then
shipped to the facility for installation as a complete unit. A system
includes at least one shipping container, the “Headworks” unit, con-
AT A GLANCE
+ Bioelectric wastewater
treatment utilizes bacteria
that generate and consume
electricity to convert pollutants into methane fuel.
+ The system tested at Clos
du Bois reduced biological
oxygen demand in wastewater by 80%-90% and
generated high-quality
methane fuel.
+ Methane can fuel a cogeneration turbine to generate electricity and heat to
use for winery processing
operations.
+ EcoVolt systems can
Cambrian Innovation CEO Matthew Silver stands in front of the EcoVolt treatment system at Clos du Bois Winery.
Photo: Ted Rieger
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reduce a winery’s carbon
footprint by 2 kilograms per
case of wine production.
www. v wm m e d i a . c o m
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VI N E YAR D & WI N E RY MAN AG E ME N T
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The EcoVolt system includes a shipping container, the “Headworks” unit, the reactor treatment system and a cogeneration unit.
taining system controls, the reactor
treatment system for solids and
water management, and a cogeneration unit. The Headworks unit has
a minimum footprint of 8 feet by 20
feet by 9 feet. Additional shipping
container modules can be installed
as needed for larger facilities, or for
expanding facility capacity.*
According to Silver, wineries producing 100,000 cases per year or
more are good candidates for the
EcoVolt, but he said he believes systems could be designed for production levels as low as 25,000 cases.
Cambrian plans to work with wineries individually to calculate the
economics of system installation
and operation. Silver noted that the
cost and benefits of an individual
system are site-dependent, based
on the winery’s current wastewater handling and costs, whether it is
processed onsite, or if it pays a fee
for disposal. The methane biogas
generated can be used in a cogeneration system – a turbine that generates electricity and heat for winery
operations, such as heating water
for cleaning. Other gas utilization
options include fueling gas-powered boilers and refrigeration equipment. Water from the system can
go to a holding pond, to be used for
vineyard and landscape irrigation, or
stored for frost control in winter.
SAVE THE DATE
“Some anaerobic systems tend
to be finicky, due to variable wastewater flow rates and composition,
but our technology has much more
stability,” Silver said. Wastewater
management depends on maintaining healthy and active microbial
populations to perform the decomposition and conversion processes.
“Based on our research, we’ve
developed an optimized proprietary
microbial inoculum that is part of a
system that can handle variation
very well,” he added. As with other
wastewater systems, monitoring and maintaining proper pH and
nutrient levels to maintain viable
microbes is required. Re-inoculation
may sometimes be required, but Silver estimated this would be needed
no more often than annually.
Hemphill stays current on winery wastewater technologies and
practices. From a user standpoint,
Hemphill said, “The EcoVolt was
commissioned quickly, and it came
up to speed and operated better in
some areas than competing technology.” The previous Biothane unit
required a lot of daily monitoring
by one in-house person almost full
time. “With this EcoVolt unit, it can
be managed remotely by Cambrian
without requiring our time, which
makes more sense for us, because
we’re in the business of making
wine, we’re not in the wastewater
business.”
Silver explained Cambrian’s
ongoing role in managing the system: “We’re remotely monitoring
system conditions and operation
from our offices in Boston and
Sonoma. The bioelectric process
enables direct feedback and automated control of reactor health,
and with sensors getting cheaper,
and by using cloud-based network
systems, most other functions
have been automated at relatively
low cost. We plan to be monitoring a network of these systems in
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the future.” Silver said the system
should not require regular onsite
maintenance, but regular monitoring will provide alerts about periodic maintenance needs, or if
equipment, such as a pump, fails
and needs service or replacement.
The system was trialed at Clos
du Bois treating 10% of the facility’s total wastewater flow. Hemphill said it performed well over the
course of 10-plus months on a variety of flow rates and wastewater
chemistries, pH levels, etc., representing the variations in output
during the facility’s seasonal wine
production activities.
Silver noted that the system trial
demonstrated an 80%-90% reduction in biological oxygen demand
across a range of wastewater rates
and concentrations, and generated
high-quality methane (about 80%90% pure). Based on the trial, Silver said EcoVolt systems can be
scaled to process winery wastewa-
HT TO
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VI N E YAR D & WI N E RY MAN AG E ME N T
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ter flows of 10,000-250,000 gallons
per day. He said a single reactor
generates enough methane to produce 30-46 kilowatts (kW) of electricity from a cogeneration turbine
as constant output, assuming constant wastewater flow and system
operation. EcoVolt systems can
provide electric power output ranging from 30 kW to 276 kW, depending on system size and capacity.
The EcoVolt system is now on
the market. Clos du Bois’ parentcompany, Constellation Brands,
is supporting a full-scale installation at the winery. Clos du Bois
currently has sufficient wastewater processing capacity, so in this
case, the EcoVolt provides the benefits of reducing aeration pump
electric costs while also generating
usable energy.
“This system generates a good
return for us, but it would fit even
better in a scenario for planning a
new winery, a winery operating at
46
V I N E YA R D & WINE RY MANAGEM ENT
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full wastewater capacity or a winery expanding its production capacity,” Hemphill said. “Constellation
has wineries in all three of those
situations. Our plan as a company
is to go full scale with the EcoVolt
system here, and then assess other
site opportunities.”
In Northern California, Cambrian
has been in contact with Pacific
Gas & Electric Co. regarding utility
financial incentives and energy efficiency programs that can help pay
for system installation. “A range
of local utility and state and federal
incentive programs exist for agricultural and industrial customers
and our team will be working with
customers as part of their evaluation of the economics of installing a
system,” Silver said.
Cambrian has been talking with
wineries and breweries worldwide
about the EcoVolt for possible
future installations. The company
has been developing the technol-
Sept - Oct 2013
ogy since 2008, with funding and
assistance from the National Science Foundation and private investors. Cambrian is also working with
the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, NASA and the military on
bioelectric technology applications.
The company is also ready to
work with wineries on an overall systems approach to decrease
water use and utilize renewable
energy technologies, Silver said.
“Our goals are to help processing facilities move off the electric
grid and to reduce their carbon
footprints.”
Ted Rieger , CSW, is a writer and
photographer based in Sacramento,
Calif., and has been a contributing
editor for V&WM since 1990.
Comments? Please e-mail us at
[email protected].
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