WEF Releases Report on Biogas Production and Use at Water Resource Recovery Facilities in the United States

Future energy trends are influenced by numerous factors including the relative cost of alternative energy supplies, new source discoveries, and the cost to extract and produce energy sources. If renewable energy becomes reliable and affordable, energy use may turn away from fossil fuels and towards greener fuel sources. As the renewable energy sources and related technologies are evaluated, wastewater, biosolids, and biogas show promise as future energy sources that could reshape energy trends in the United States (U.S.) and beyond.

To fully realize the benefits of these programs and of renewable energy on the whole, renewable energy technologies must be further developed and applied widely to provide clean, reliable, affordable energy on a much larger scale. To that end, the wastewater profession has been striving to promote greater use of biogas produced at municipal WRRFs as a renewable and sustainable energy source. Biogas project developers, engineering consultants, and others require accurate data on biogas production to conceptualize, design, and develop renewable energy and resource recovery projects.

This report highlights existing anaerobic digestion systems at U.S. Water Resource Recovery Facilities, as well as current uses of, and potential future opportunities for, using biogas produced by these facilities. Members can download the report at http://wefcom.wef.org/Communities/Resources/ViewDocument/?DocumentKey=a3427e7c-35d2-4be6-ac34-a20020a16895, or non-members can purchase the report at http://www.e-wef.org/OnlineStore/ProductDetail/tabid/55/productid/31936231/Default.aspx.