DC Water – Biosolids Management – Combined Heat and Power Plant

DMY provided special inspection and construction materials testing services for this project, including field and laboratory testing for soil and aggregate, concrete and grout sampling and testing, and inspection of the installation of 181 auger-cast piles. Structural steel inspection was also a major part of special inspection services.

The Combined Heat and Power (CHP) project made the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant (AWTP) the first in North America to use biogas from an AWTP facility. The design-build portion of the CHP project was for $81 million and, upon completion, it produced at least 14 MW of electric power that supplied the Blue Plains facility with nearly 30 percent of the AWTP’s average power demand. This was equal to the electricity required to power more than 8,000 homes. The plant also included three Solar Mercury 50 low nitrogen oxide gas turbines, digester gas cleaning and compression equipment, heat recovery steam generators, duct burners, a backup boiler, and electrical equipment needed to operate in parallel with the utility grid and ancillary systems.