Study finds NYC WWTP can help meet climate, zero-waste goals

Upgrading New York City’s wastewater plants could produce clean energy, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, divert food waste from landfills and generate savings and revenue for the city, according to a new report by Energy Vision, an NYC-based environmental nonprofit.

Titled “Gotham Gas Goes Green,” the independent report assesses the benefits of applying innovations piloted at Newtown Creek, the city’s largest wastewater plant, to the city’s 14 wastewater resource recovery facilities (WRRFs).

Operated by the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), these WRRFs have a total of 75 anaerobic digesters which break down sewage sludge and capture the methane biogas emitted as it decomposes. Historically, WRRFs have flared this methane as a byproduct of the digester process.

At the upgraded Newtown Creek plant, food waste collected and supplied by WM of New York, which operates an organics recycling facility that supplies feedstock to the WRRF, now augments the sewage sludge processed by the digester, thus boosting methane production.

RELATED: NapaSan teams up with NextEra Energy for linear generator installation at WWTP

A new facility built on-site by National Grid, the natural gas provider for New York, then refines this methane into renewable natural gas (RNG). RNG is chemically like fossil gas but has much lower GHG emissions. RNG produced at Newtown Creek will be injected into National Grid’s pipelines to heat over 5,000 Brooklyn homes.

The report states this waste-to-renewable energy model, also known as “gas-to-grid,” has significant benefits. If more of DEP’s 14 WRRFs adopted it, they could produce enough RNG to power the city’s entire fleet of heavy-duty trucks. According to the report, this would cut GHG emissions from city operations by 15 percent, generate up to $80 million a year in cost savings or new revenue and process 30 percent of New York’s 1.2 million tons of food waste annually. Using RNG fuel in city trucks or buses could displace 25 million gallons of diesel fuel, avoiding pollution and health damage from diesel exhaust.

“New York has a golden opportunity here,” says Matt Tomich, president of Energy Vision. “Generous tax credits and incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act could help finance WRRF upgrades. DEP is seeking partners to put WRRF biogas to use, and private capital is interested in renewable energy projects. Between diverting food waste from landfills, capturing WRRF methane and replacing fossil natural gas, the climate benefits of these projects are immense.”