Arcadis, a global design and consultancy firm for natural and built assets, announced its selection by Columbus, Ohio, to design energy efficiency and biogas recycling improvements at the city's Jackson Pike Wastewater Treatment Plant. The improved plant will recycle biogas to generate electricity, representing a significant step for the city in becoming a more sustainable, green community.

As prime consultant under an approximate $1 million contract, Arcadis will design a combined heat and power (CHP) engine capable of burning biogas that will power a generator to produce electricity and heat for the plant. Methane-rich biogas is produced by the plant's anaerobic digesters. Rather than flare the excess biogas, the city aims to recycle it for power. Arcadis will manage the CHP engine procurement, pair it with a gas cleaning system for producing high quality fuel and integrate the new CHP system into the plant's existing electrical and heating system. The new system will also be scalable to accommodate city growth.

“Using biogas to fuel the engines is significantly more efficient and environmentally friendly than using coal power or natural gas, and it will strengthen our city's sustainability going forward,” said Todd Krenelka, Columbus Department of Public Utilities. “The city has a strong interest in fully using our resources, and this project meets multiple objectives within Columbus' Green Memos.”

“We applaud Columbus for embarking on a multi-year initiative to promote sustainability within the city and to contribute to solutions for ongoing global environmental issues,” said Arcadis Water President John McCarthy. “Arcadis looks forward to building a more efficient and sustainable power system to help the city meet its climate change, energy, built environment and community engagement objectives.”

The design phase of the project will run through October 2019 with construction scheduled to take place in spring 2020.

Arcadis has designed, managed construction and overseen the startup of a variety of CHP systems, including one of the first facilities to achieve energy net neutrality in the country — the Gloversville-Johnstown Joint Wastewater Treatment Facility in New York. Similarly, Arcadis was responsible for the design and construction management of the Cedar Creek Water Pollution Control Plant in Long Island, N.Y., which after 30 years, is still reliably and efficiently generating steam and electricity to power the plant.

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