Converting Organic Waste into Liquid Gold

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Webinar Summary

The City of Muscatine (Iowa) Organic Recycling Center converts organic waste, namely unwanted packaged food from Midwestern factories destined for the landfill, into clean water. It's one of the three municipal facilities of its kind in the U.S. This presentation covers the original idea, the project's funding and engineering and operational challenges.

The center is processing 25- to 50 tons of organic food waste every day, with an ultimate target of 90 tons per day. The collective machinery can separate and process nearly any packaged organics, except for glass. The water plant's two 1-megawatt anerobic digesters produce methane as a byproduct, which is burned off, for now. If production increases as planned, the city is considering the possibility of harvesting the methane for power production.

About the Presenters

Jay Brady, P.E., of Stanley Consultants was the prime consultant and engineer on the project for over six years, providing design concepts and the eventual final designs. Stanley also provided studies on local high strength waste producer research, potential biogas production levels, costs analyses, construction cost estimates. He can be reached at [email protected].

Jon Koch is the Water & Resource Recovery Facility Director for the City of Muscatine, Iowa. A State of Iowa top licensed Grade 4 Treatment Operator, he has over 21 years of experience operating and managing water, wastewater and industrial wastewater treatment facilities in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Iowa. He is also the city's Stormwater Department Director and is currently serving as the Iowa Water Environment Association's delegate to the Water Environment Federation. He is a graduate of Muscatine Community College and Iowa State University.  He can be reached at [email protected].

Webinar Format

This will be an interactive session with "live chat" capability. The session is open to environmental engineering and science professionals across all sectors and career stages. Our objective is to offer special insights on leading edge solutions for graduate and undergraduate students as well as early to mid-career environmental professionals who are considering specialty certification.

AAEES Board Certified Individuals: Attend this event and earn 1.5 PDHs towards your PDH requirements for maintaining your specialty certification.

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