Wastewater treatment technology is finalist for Project of the Year

SAN LEANDRO, California - Innovator of the only wastewater disinfection process that generates renewable energy, Pasteurization Technology Group, has been selected as a finalist for Technology Project of the Year, one of four awards presented by industry publication American Water Intelligence (AWI) in its 2012 American Water Awards. The award recognises new technology that has been successfully deployed in a completed water or wastewater project.

This week, at AWI’s American Water Summit in Chicago, PTG CEO Greg Ryan, along with other finalists, will give a six-minute presentation about PTG’s technology and recent deployment at Ventura Water. Summit attendees will vote for their choice, with the first-place winners and runners-up announced later that night at the awards ceremony.

The Pasteurization Technology Group’s design is a highly efficient, cost-effective and sustainable solution that enables the reuse of valuable water. The technology is attracting the attention of businesses and municipalities that want to realise substantial energy cost savings and eliminate toxic chemicals through alternatives to traditional UV- and chlorine-based wastewater disinfection systems.

Ventura Water recently successfully completed the initial evaluation phase of a project to transition its wastewater treatment plant to a safe, non-toxic, sustainable technology to replace the current chlorine-based disinfection process in use at the Ventura Wastewater Reclamation Facility. Current estimates are that the City of Ventura will realise energy and operating cost savings of more than US$750,000 per year by using PTG’s technology.

PTG’s patented technology can use either the digester gas (often referred to as biogas, a natural by-product of wastewater treatment) or natural gas as fuel to drive a turbine or engine that generates renewable electricity. The hot exhaust air from the turbine or engine – energy that is typically wasted—is then passed through a series of heat exchangers that increase the temperature of the wastewater to a level that disinfects the wastewater stream.