Clinton River
Clinton River Water Resource Recovery Facility
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The Clinton River Water Resource Recovery Facility became a part of the WRC in 2011. The facility treats approximately 30 million gallons of stormwater and sanitary sewage each day, serving the communities of Auburn Hills, Independence Township, Lake Angelus, Lake Orion, Oakland Township, Orion Township, Oxford Township, the Village of Oxford, Pontiac, Rochester, Rochester Hills, Waterford Township and West Bloomfield Township.
The Pontiac Clinton River Water Resource Recovery Facility recently completed the construction of a new Thermal Hydrolysis Pretreatment (THP) system, sludge dewatering system improvements, expansion and improvement of the existing dewatered biosolids storage facility, and construction of a new septage receiving facility. The THP system is a newer and innovative process that involves conditioning of the sludge under high heat prior to anaerobic digestion. This process results in a more easily digested sludge and a Class A Exceptional Biosolids.
About the Process
- A new masonry building houses septage processing equipment, pumps, electrical equipment, instrumentation and controls.
- 60,000-gallon underground, concrete tank to store highly organic and inert material received at the plant.
- In addition to providing an alternative revenue source for the Water Resources Commissioner's operations, the facility implements a good-neighbor policy by providing a discharge location for nearby communities and septage haulers, improving the quality of life, achieving regulatory standards, and ultimately reusing the material.
- Existing primary and secondary digesters were upgraded in order to process pre-treated THP sludge.
- This upgrade consisted of installing new pump mixing systems in each tank to optimize digestion and the addition of a flexible membrane cover on the secondary digester to store the biogas prior to reuse.
- This is an updated anaerobic digestion system.
- A new 20,400 square foot concrete storage pad with a standing seam roof keeps the dewatered biosolids dry, protected from inclement weather and ready for land application and distribution.
- The storage facility includes enclosed conveyors and a truck scale to efficiently manage the product prior to beneficial reuse.
- The new precast paneled, two-story, 15,800 square foot building houses multiple sludge pumps, sludge screening equipment, pre-THP and post-digestion biosolids dewatering centrifuges, the thermal hydrolysis process (THP) train, steam boilers, polymer storage and feed, electrical equipment, instrumentation and controls.
- In concert with the digesters this facility generates the biosolids to storage.