Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal Improvements
Greeley and Hansen, A TYLin Company, led the design and construction of an innovative Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal for the Greater Peoria Sanitary District’s Darst Street Wastewater Treatment Plant.
When the nutrient deficient, high-strength organic waste of a major Peoria County industrial discharger produced a pretreatment challenge — which could put continued industrial operations and local jobs at risk — the Greater Peoria Sanitary District (GPSD) initiated a public-private partnership to address the challenge with Greeley and Hansen. The new secondary treatment process enables GPSD’s largest industrial client to meet pretreatment requirements, and places GPSD in a better position to meet future EPA standards for phosphorus removal — years ahead of the requirements taking effect.
The $9.4 million EBPR improvements project resulted from a collaborative study with GPSD and Greeley and Hansen seeking an alternative to existing pretreatment limits on the industrial discharger. The study recommended upgrading the treatment plant with an EBPR system to meet the needs of the industrial discharger, address nutrient deficiency issues, provide resilience to large and varying organic loads, and to place GPSD in a better position to meet future nutrient limits.
The completed EBPR secondary treatment process represents a fundamental change in the way GPSD treats wastewater. Achieving phosphorus levels below 1.0 mg/l, the innovative EBPR system improves environmental conditions for local fish and aquatic life in the Illinois River and Mississippi River and helps reduce the overabundance of organic phosphorus partly sustaining a massive hypoxic “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. A “win-win” for all parties involved, the public-private partnership driving the Peoria EBPR Improvements Project is a real-world example of the value of public utilities establishing mutually beneficial and sustainable relationships with private industry.
Project Highlights:
- Enhanced biological phosphorus removal to address high strength industrial organic waste
- Met EPA standards years ahead of requirements
- Improved environmental conditions in local waterways for fish and aquatic life
- Public-Private partnership