On July 15, quasar energy group, a Cleveland-based waste-to-energy company, held an event for more than 150 municipal representatives, public officials and members of the media to tout the progress and celebrate the grand opening of its anaerobic digestion facility which provides wastewater treatment services for the City of Wooster and surrounding areas.
quasar designs, builds, owns and operates complete mixing systems that process organic waste to produce clean, renewable energy and valuable byproducts. The company uses advanced anaerobic digestion technology to recycle energy from organic waste. Anaerobic digestion is a process by which microorganisms break down organic waste materials (wastewater, solids, FOG, industrial and food waste, etc.) in the absence of oxygen. The energy quasar generates is then used for electricity, pipeline quality gas or compressed natural gas (CNG).
? The company?s renewable energy facility in Wooster is located at the city?s Water Pollution Control Plant. Since starting construction in 2013, the project has transformed the city?s traditional wastewater treatment plant ? which, at the time was experiencing operational problems ? into a virtual water resource recovery facility.
The facility now has an annual electricity-generating capacity of 5,256 MWh and can produce 1,650 gasoline gallon equivalents (gge) per day in renewable fuel generation. Its anaerobic digestion tank capacity is about 550,000 gallons over the course of a normal 28-day digestion time. The facility is completely self-sufficient, running on the energy it produces, while additional energy is exported from the facility to the local area. In the future, quasar has plans to continue exporting the energy it produces to aid local business, including a tie-in to the City of Wooster?s water treatment plant across the street.
The grand opening event held in July included several guest speakers who lauded the success of quasar and the benefits of renewable energy expansion in rural areas across the United States. Speakers included Lillian Salerno, USDA Administrator for Rural Business and Cooperative Programs; Ohio State Senator Frank LaRose; Ohio Representative Ron Amstutz; Mayor Robert Breneman, City of Wooster; Joel Montgomery, City of Wooster; Tom Voldrich, NESOWEA; and Mel Kurtz, president of quasar energy group; and Clemens Halene, quasar energy group engineer.
?This has been a great partnership with quasar,? said Wooster Mayor Robert Breneman. ?We couldn?t ask for a better group to start some innovation with. All of a sudden, we had a plant that was having problems and was going to cost the city a ton of money to fix. Through this public-private partnership, our plant is operating with no violations and has also saved us millions of dollars.?
According to Lillian Salerno, USDA Administrator for Rural Business and Cooperative Programs, renewable energy facilities and the work being done by quasar is a prime example of innovative resource recovery that is cost effective for residents in rural regions across the United States.
quasar energy has 13 operational anaerobic digestion facilities throughout the United States with several more under construction or in the planning stages. quasar also collaborates with Ohio State University?s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center campus to further the development of Ohio?s anaerobic digestion industry. For more information, visit www.quasareg.com.
