aeration ponds provide heating and cooling to lower the plant's energy
costs?
A University of Illinois research project is being set up to determine this.
Two University of Illinois at Chicago engineers will test two types
of heat pump at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Great
Chicago's James C. Kirie plant in Des Plaines. Ill.
The project will take place over the next year. According to Sohail, Murad, professor and head of chemical engineering at UIC and the project's principal investigator, it will "determine
the feasibility of harnessing energy from the effluent water." s
Murad said the demonstration project could determine which system
can reduce the plant's heating and cooling energy needs by 20 percent.
Further refinements could reduce energy use even more.
Both "open" and "closed"-loop geothermal heat pump systems will be tested.
These are the environmental science projects that can lead the way to energy reduction and cost-saving measures.
Heat pumps collect heat during winter through fluid circulating in
pipes called loops, placed below ground or in a body of water. The
circulating fluid carries ground or water-stored heat indoors. In
summer, the loop draws away indoor heat and carries it underground or
under water, where it is absorbed. In a closed loop system, the
circulating water or other suitable fluid stays within the pipes. In an
open loop, water from the pond is used directly instead of the
circulating fluid. It is pumped in and out of the system, explains researchers.
"Open and closed-loop pond systems are not very common, so
development work has to be done to establish optimal operating
parameters," said Murad, who specializes in thermodynamics. "We'll also
test if the treated water leads to any corrosion or fouling issues in
the pipe in the open system," he said.
- The project will use treated water that exits the plant into adjacent aeration ponds.
Catherine O'Connor, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of
Great Chicago's assistant director of monitoring and research, said the
project is novel and there is no documentation of a side-by-side
comparison of an open versus closed-loop system that recovers heat from
reclaimed water effluent.
"The open system promises to be more efficient, but may prove to require excess maintenance," O'Connor said.
Kirie ranks in the middle for capacity among the MWRD's seven
water-reclamation plants, at about 46 million gallons of effluent daily.
It is the district's newest plant.
"Heating and cooling plant buildings are a significant cost to the
district," O'Connor said. "Plant buildings include office space and
buildings that house process control and the filters."
Cost of the $175,000 project will be covered in part by an $87,500
grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation. UIC will
handle process design. Other costs include the purchase of two 15-ton
heat pumps with ancillary equipment to augment the current building
heating and air conditioning system.
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