Saturday 9 January 2016

Biosolids and First Nations' Traditions

Impact of Biosolids on First Nations' Way of Life
 

 

I would like to thank Kay Swakam of the Lower Nicola Band in British Columbia for the following Letter she submitted to the Kelowna newspaper  Apr 23, 2015.   http://www.kelownacapnews.com/opinion/letters/301093701.html


Biosolids are a combination of human and industrial waste accumulated from the urban cities. The secretive systematic approach to dump biosolids in the beautiful Nicola Valley is disgusting.
The First Nations people of the Nicola Valley are shocked by the government's tactic of allowing the biosolids to be dumped on their territories. As a result, the First Nations communities are gathering to protest against the land application of biosolids. The biosolids will endanger the First Nations peoples traditional way of life by affecting their practices of food gathering such as fishing, hunting and picking wild medicinal herbs.



Fishing
First Nations largely depend on fishing as their source of traditional food for the whole year. It is also used at ceremonies and community gatherings.
The biosolids affect fish and other aquatic life by potentially polluting the water quality of the rivers, lakes and creeks. Biosolids will pose serious concerns for the fish habitat and people who consume fish as part of their daily diet. Biosolids will contaminate the waters where fish live and thrive, which in turn will affect the food chain which aboriginal people depend on. Thus, people will end up having serious health problems.
First Nations people have to make every effort to protect their traditional food source by standing firmly against importing biosolids in the Nicola Valley territory.



Hunting
The traditional hunting for deer, moose and elk is a way of life for the First Nations people. Traditional foods such as deer, moose and elk are not processed food. This type of wild food is needed because diabetes is so high in aboriginal communities.
Aboriginals are consuming a lot of processed meats and other types of food from the supermarkets which negatively affects their health. Therefore, hunting and consuming wild meat supports and promotes the overall health and wellbeing.
Also, the majority of the First Nations people depend on eating wildlife as they live on a tight budget. Wildlife is also used for ceremonial purposes, funerals and the hides are used for traditional drums and clothing.
Biosolids contain toxic pollutants, nauseous odours, pathogens and harmful metals that can be dangerous to humans and wildlife. People who consume wildlife affected by biosolids may have serious health issues. Therefore, First Nations people must protect their territories and not allow biosolids to come into their territories.


Wild vegetation
Another traditional practice of First Nations people is picking wild medicine plants, herbs and berries. They depend on wild medicinal herbs from the forests for their traditional health and wellness. The types of wild vegetation are wild mushrooms, berries, roots and leaves used for medicinal purposes.
Biosolids are spread through the forests jeopardizing the First Nations practices of eating forest berries and herbs. Biosolids have some harmful heavy metals that could create health problems in humans as well as wild plant growth. Hence, First Nations people must protect their precious wild vegetation to sustain their health and wellness by saying no to biosolids.
This toxic waste will enter the food chain and destroy the wonderful nature that surrounds the Nicola Valley. It will further compromise the First Nations peoples traditional practices such as fishing, hunting and picking the wild medicinal vegetation.
To make matters worse, government officials have kept this land application a secret from people. First Nations people should voice their opinions against the biosolids dumping on their territory. This movement needs not just aboriginals, but people of all backgrounds and cultures to unite and take action to combat biosolids.

Kay Swakum,
Lower Nicola
(and a thanks to Dr. Richard Honour for his photos of sludged forests)

Alternatives to Land Application

What alternatives are available then?  

Instead of simply spreading our cities' toxic sewage waste over farms and forests (future generations will depend on healthy soils) we should be looking at alternatives that meet certain goals - the alternatives should provide energy, provide a method of harvesting needed nitrogen and phosphorus, and of course they should eliminate as many of the pollutants as possible. 

Recently many countries are creating legislation demanding that these goals are met with respect to the sludges they generate.

The Federal Government of Germany has passed new Sewage Sludge rules as of October 2017- "We will phase-out the direct use of sewage sludge as a fertilizer on land and promote the recycling of Phosphorus and other nutrients" 

The Swedish government has recently made a similar pronouncement -  "A ban on spreading sewage sludge should not be an obstacle to the extraction of biogas. The aim is to recycle both energy and phosphorus from the sewage sludge without the risk of health and environmentally harmful substances coming into the environment"


Both gasification and pyrolysis are improving by leaps and bounds as  good "green" alternatives to land application. For more on these please see:



SLUDGEFFECT is a research and innovation project to investigate and develop practical ways to mitigate the harmful presences of hazardous substances of sewage sludge and e-waste plastic within a circular economy. And thereby contribute to increase the volume of sludge and e-waste plastic that can be the reused.
 By combining state-of-the-art knowledge and analysis of the presence of contaminants in sewage sludge fertilizers and e-waste plastic, with the literature and novel experimentation on how to remove hazardous substances through pyrolysis at high temperature (>700 C), the aim is to provide more than a proof-of-concept that hazardous substances risks can be mitigated through high temperature pyrolysis in Norwegian waste streams while making useful raw materials.
......

Optimisation of the co-combustion of meat–bone meal and sewage sludge in terms of the quality produced ashes used as substitute of phosphorites


"The environmental effect is the substitution of 8200 t of phosphorites used for the production of phosphoric fertilisers with ashes from the co-combustion of a mixture of MBM and Sewage Sludge"


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Recover Phosphorus from Sewage Sludge - 



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Biochar from Biosolids - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=E_-dXjyjTgs


Renewable Energy solutions - https://ariescleanenergy.com/








Advanced Pyrolysis Technology - http://www.tcrpc.org/announcements/Biosolids/13_wirtel.pdf


Next Generation Supercritical Water Oxidation http://www.tcrpc.org/announcements/Biosolids/12_Nagar.pdf


The Omniprocessor and Advanced Vapor Recompression Distillation






Pyrolysis of Biosolids / Biochar - https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/8/11/524/htm






An energy recovery system (pyrolysis reactor) -  sustainable and efficient. http://www.bioforcetech.com/pyrolysis.html 






Emergent Waste Solution - www.ewscanada.com


Scientific American - The Future of Sewage is Power and Profits

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/plasma-gasification-alberta-proposal-1.3373979

Emergent Waste Solutions, Advanced Pyrolysis System - https://vimeo.com/95563860 -

An Austrian System - making biochar fertilizer with Sludge - http://www.greenlife.co.at/uploads/2/3/2/5/23252088/greenlife_pyrolysis.pdf

GLES - Waste to Energy by pyrolysis  - http://www.glescorp.com/en/

Great new technology - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RAXTxLeR-A

Japan is making energy with their Sewer Sludge - http://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035504.html

Toronto ponders making energy from sludge - http://torontoist.com/2016/03/public-works-turning-our-waste-from-flushable-to-fuel/


BBC NEWS - Poop into Profit

Dealing with sewage the Swiss way - sustainable and clean

Scottish town powers 200+ homes with electricity from Sewage Sludge - energy from sludge - https://envirotecmagazine.com/2019/01/03/borders-wastewater-site-celebrates-green-energy-milestone/

"Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a process whereby sludge can be converted into high-density solid fuel under mild temperatures and pressures. In addition, waste heat from the HTC process can be used to preheat the raw materials and improve the recovery of energy. Zhao et al. demonstrated that, under mild conditions (200°C, 30 min), energy recovery from sludge via the HTC process is more than 50%, showing better performance than the mechanical dewatering technology. During the HTC process, copious amounts of toxicity organics are decomposed and the contents of S, N, and Cl are reduced. Moreover, some HMs are stabilized in the solid residual (SR). Therefore, HTC of SS for high-density and clean solid fuel preparation is a promising technology." (https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2018/1913848/)



February 2018  - Pyrolysis as an Economical and Ecological Treatment Option for Solid Anaerobic Digestate and Municipal Sewage Sludge

https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7155&context=etd

May 2019 - https://phys.org/news/2019-05-wastewater-sludge-energy-mineral-salts.html Swiss company uses gasification of sludge to mine it for phosphorous and capture biogas energy.

Making Jet Fuel from Sewage sludge - https://arena.gov.au/blog/sewage-sludge-to-jet-fuel/

Awesome new informational video - demonstrating the conversion of sewage sludge into automotive fuels and green hydrogen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSUom35r8ZE Biochar from Biosolids - "its feedstock will be biosolids, dried sewage as a feedstock, instead of waste wood. The reason is simple: people are willing to pay him to take it and it supports the business plan." https://www.therockymountaingoat.com/2019/06/mcbrides-secret-refinery-biochar-plant/ Mine this sewage waste for its phosphate - https://www.glatt.com/fileadmin/user_upload/NEWS/Glatt_FA_063_Phoenix-rising_Phosphate-from-sewage-sludge-ashes-to-ready-to-use-fertilizers_en_WorldFertilizer_2019-032.pdf Thermal Decomposition - http://www.kleanindustries.com/s/environmental_market_industry_news.asp?ReportID=753853

Large scale gasification of biosolids - https://ottawacitizen.com/pmn/press-releases-pmn/business-wire-news-releases-pmn/aries-clean-energy-completes-environmental-permitting-for-worlds-first-large-scale-biosolids-gasification-facility/wcm/b925c4f8-4e20-4503-8482-40eb5dd54c64

Make bricks out of these toxic biosolids - 
https://phys.org/news/2019-01-toilet-brickyard-recycling-biosolids-sustainable.html

Another city showing vision and environmental stewardship (Schenectady NY) …

"City officials said they would not negotiate on three key aspects of the public-private partnership:
No cost, no odor and no risk"
"Through the pyrolysis process, the city could save an estimated $669,000 each year, most of it through reductions in those disposal fees."

"Pyrolysis generates its own power, and the excess energy could potentially be sold to the city at a discounted rate."

"It's a sustainable, environmentally-friendly project"

"Some countries have banned land application because of the harmful substances found in biosolids such as microplastics, heavy metals, pharmaceutical residues, and harmful chemicals such as PFAS. It’s very likely that land application will be severely restricted or eliminated, so other options for disposing of or using biosolids need to be found." Biosolids as Energy Source  - https://recyclingequipmentcanada.com/a-new-solution-for-biosolids-sewage-sludge/

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Recycling sewage sludge ash while recovering phosphorus and producing sustainable concrete

All partners expect that a full-scale production can be ready by 2023-2024, and it is expected that this project will expand to other countries in the world besides just Sweden, Denmark and Germany.

https://www.constructionecologynews.com/recycling-sewage-sludge-ash-while-recovering-phosphorus-and-producing-sustainable-concrete/

…………………………….

HTCycle -


"Every year, over 100 million tons of sewage sludge are produced in wastewater treatment plants around the world. Incineration of this sludge is costly, but landfilling it or using it in agriculture can have tremendous negative impacts on the environment. The HTC technology we have developed offers a sustainable, economically profitable solution for managing large volumes of sewage sludge. The high concentration of carbon in the sewage sludge presents a considerable energy potential that is yet to be properly exploited. Moreover, our innovative approach also produces biocoal, which can be processed to activated carbon and also recovers nearly 100% of the phosphorus, which further aids in the separation of heavy metals and makes it possible to extract flocculating agents used for wastewater treatment"
"The sewage sludge reuse generates phosphate recovery, heavy metals and pharmaceutical residues extraction"
https://htcycle.ag/en ……………………………...………………………………………….
Calgary to convert sewage sludge into biofuels - "The new plant will be North America’s first demonstration of Steeper’s proven Hydrofaction® technology – a patented thermochemical process that converts bio-organic wastes (including sewage sludge, food, or forestry wastes) into renewable biofuels. In addition to biofuel production, the process converts and eliminates wastewater contaminants such as microplastics and pharmaceuticals and isolates heavy metals"
Alberta has TWO new operations coming on board -
Sewage Sludge to Energy-
"In addition to biofuel production, the process
( Hydrofaction technology – thermo-chemical process) converts and eliminates wastewater contaminants such as microplastics and pharmaceuticals and isolates heavy metals"

#2 - see -

'Energy coming out of our butts': Alberta firms convert human waste into biofuel - https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/energy-coming-out-of-our-butts-alberta-firms-convert-human-waste-into-biofuel-1.5091474

How to harness the power of biosolids to make hydrogen

" By harnessing the power of biosolids to produce a fully clean fuel from biogas—while simultaneously preventing greenhouse gas emissions—we can deliver a true environmental and economic win."


.........................................

December 2020

"In Sweden, more than 11,500 vehicles already run on biomethane produced from sewage plants so there is already a model that suggests this could be a viable proposition in the UK"




(I will be posting more here in the near future as this is such an important concern)

Battle Background Part Three


Recently, many have been asking the Friends of the Nicola Valley, for their view of the Biosolids issue - especially now that communities across the region are looking for alternatives to land application - here are some thoughts -

Our view is that farmers, ranchers, and forestry personnel have been duped. The marketing "pitch" is the nitrogen, phosphorous, and organic matter. This is, however, only half the story. You see, there is a reason why it is generally given away for free – the waste water treatment facilities need to get rid of their piles of sewer sludge (the collected and concentrated residuals left over after cleaning the water). This represents everything a city pours down its drains: household chemicals, industrial toxins, pharmaceuticals, solvents – you name it. Farms, ranches and forests are being used as disposal sites for this end-product - "sold" as "beneficial biosolids" – quite a "spin"!

 
Many countries have ended this method of dealing with waste. For instance a recent German study concluded that "it would be advisable to gradually phase out the use of sewage sludge so as to avoid diffuse loads of potentially harmful substances in soil." So too, the Swiss have stopped because of, "the risk of irreversible damage to the soil, the danger to public health and possible negative effects on the quality of the food farmers produce."


To read more on the Swiss Ban on the use of sludge as a fertiliser see - http://www.bafu.admin.ch/dokumentation/medieninformation/00962/index.html?lang=en&msg-id=1673


Our government has made claims about lots of oversight to protect health. If the product is, as they say, "stringently regulated," then why out of the thousands of toxins known to be in biosolids are only about a dozen tested for? And why did the Suzuki Foundation recently find very toxic components in the bisosolids delivered to the Nicola Valley from the Lower Mainland? Government guidelines are not protecting human health.


One of the biggest worries is that sewer sludge has a potential for spreading low-level toxicity throughout the environment - cancer-causing elements, prions, hormones - which have a long latency period and only manifest themselves in the affected population many years in the future (asbestos is such an interesting parallel with its long latency period before symptoms show - even today in the UK more individuals are dying yearly from asbestos than from all road deaths combined - and remember too that for decades governments and scientists told the public that asbestos was perfectly safe).
 
 
 As Dr. Richard Honour (Washington State) has pointed out, "Few in any governments appreciate that nearly all chronic diseases are caused by long-term exposure to low levels of environmental contaminants and pollutants."  So I ask you, what are we being exposed to now that we will be paying for in the future? Is it not wise to be limiting these toxins rather than spreading them back into the environment? These concerns are not addressed by the rather facile mantra of the sludge industry that no one yet had been proved to be sick from this method of toxin dispersal. Rather than blunder forward with this reckless practice, I really think the energy-producing alternatives are the clear "green" and healthy choice for communities interested in protecting their futures.
 
 
To Read more about what Dr. Honour is researching see - http://precautionarygroup.org/home.html
 
 

The water treatment process does a fine job getting toxins out of the environment. Why in the world would we start spreading it back over Mother Earth — so it can re-enter the food-chain, and re-toxify our lives? If biosolids are deemed to be "safe" then why do food companies like Campbell’s, DelMonte and Whole Foods reject produce raised with Biosolids? Why do dozens of farm, health, and environmental organizations like the Sierra Club, David Suzuki Foundation, National Farmers Union, and the Center for Food Safety, oppose using biosolids where we grow food and graze animals?


There are greener methods of dealing with this toxic burden. Methods like pyrolysis and gasification rid the environment of the toxins, have almost zero emissions, and return energy back to the grid. Let’s get on the right side of history, and keep the environment toxin-free for the next generation!



Here is a recent letter (January 1, 2016) from Caroline Snyder (Harvard University) writing on this issue to the Merritt Herald:


"Biosolids spread on land is not just a regional problem. It is a North American problem. This contaminated waste is probably the most pollutant-rich material created in the 21st century, and does not belong on the land where we grow our food or graze our animals. Biosolids contain an array of hazardous chemicals, including pharmaceuticals, PCBs, dioxins,solvents, carcinogens, mutagens, endocrine disrupters, and dozens of unregulated and inadequately regulated metals. Worse, processing sludge to reduce indicator pathogens, creates superbugs that transfer their resistance to healthy soil organisms. The most recent US EPA’s survey of biosolids across the states found a vast array of industrial chemicals in every single sample. And a few months ago the EPA Inspector General warned the agency that the program that requires industrial users to pre-treat their hazardous waste before piping it into sewers is not working.

For the inside story of how sludge brokers, Canadian and US government agencies, industry-funded researchers, and sewage treatment plant trade groups collaborate to cover up hundreds of harmful incidents linked to sludge exposure, ignore or manipulate scientific data and silence critics, seehttp://www.sludgefacts.org/IJOEH_1104_Snyder.pdf "

 

Is compost made from biosolids safe? Isn't this a good form of recycling?


"When you spread sludge on farmland or use a bag of compost you bought at a nursery or home-and-garden supply that’s made with sludge, you’re also spreading contaminants. Some one-thousand contaminants have been identified in sewage sludge, a short list of which includes lead, mercury and dozens of other metals, flame retardants, steroids, organochlorine pesticides, plasticizers, hormones and antibiotics. A 2009 nation-wide EPA study found that all samples of sludge tested contained various contaminants in varying amounts" (http://www.planetnatural.com/compost-sewage/) . The industry tells customers that the product has been "treated" and is "safe." We would point out that NO treatment takes out the chemical / toxic burden in the biosolids. We would also point out that "safe" means "without risk" and this is just not true. There are far too many unknowns to make such a claim.


 

Interviews on the Subject of Biosolids

Interviews on the Subject of Biosolids
 
 
For a general discussion by a specialist in the field please listen to the following link - Published on Oct 27, 2015
 
 
 
Georgia Clement talks with CBC in the following interview about the Nicola Valley situation -
December 23, 2015
 
 
 
Chief Aaron Sam is interviewed by CBC in the following - also concerning the Nicola Valley situation - Posted: Oct 11, 2015
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/nicola-valley-first-nations-bc-government-agree-to-cooperate-on-biosolids-solution-1.3265319



Kevin Hull talks about Pyrolysis on the CBC - an alternative to land application of Biosolids -
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kamloops/alternative-to-spreading-biosolids-on-farmland-presented-in-merritt-1.3214125



Randy Murray - TNRD  Regional Representative - is interviewed on CBC on the Biosolids issue in the area -
http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2673424206



John Werring, scientist with the Suzuki Foundation talks with CBC about the Biosolids testing he did in the Nicola Valley -
 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kamloops/scientist-finds-unacceptable-chemical-levels-in-merritt-biosolids-1.3180079