PASCO, Wash. – The Pasco Resource Recovery Center celebrated its grand opening at the Process Water Reuse Facility. This new facility holds the record as the largest algae-based wastewater treatment system in the world.
During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, participants highlighted the collaboration between Burnham RNG, Gross-Wen Technologies, and the city of Pasco. The facility is estimated to reuse 1.6 billion gallons of process water annually.
Martin Gross, CEO of Gross-Wen Technologies, explained how their technology works at the facility.
“The wastewater goes through anaerobic digester, produce biogas. Coming out of that system, the water has a lot of nitrogen and a lot of phosphorus in it. And before they land, apply it to irrigate the crops in the area. They need to remove some of that nitrogen. There’s just too much in it for the irrigation. And that’s what our system does, is it uses algae to basically eat the nitrogen out of the water. So then it can, meet the limits for nitrogen delivering to the soil,” he said.
Chris Tynan, CEO of Burnham RNG, detailed the byproducts of the treated wastewater.
“We treat that wastewater and we turn it into three byproducts. First, it’s renewable energy. Second is clean water. Over a billion gallons of clean water is returned to local farmers. And, and then also organic nutrients. So that we leave enough nutrients in the water when we give it back to the farmers, which will display synthetic fertilizers,” Tynan explained.
The project, which began discussions in early 2021, cost approximately $180 million to complete. Pete Serrano, Mayor of Pasco, assured residents that the cost would not impact local taxpayers.
“The fact that we have a structure for fee rates, that’s, that’s brought up through the processors themselves. This isn’t something that’s going to be a tax that hits your pocket, or my pocket is a local constituent,” Serrano stated.
He emphasized the benefits of the facility.
“You wash the vegetables, you get the energy benefit and the vegetables go off to the store. I mean, it’s a very simplified process of what this how houses. But it’s exciting to see how it’s full circle,” he said.
The facility will serve 4,500 homes each year with renewable natural gas, which will be sold to Cascade Natural Gas.
