This will be our first commercial field test, Kent A. Peterson, president of Kady International, said Friday. Peterson said the new process developed by his company breaks the secondary waste down into smaller pieces, which requires less aeration and uses less electricity to treat the waste. He said no chemicals are used in the process. A high-speed dispersion or mixing device is used to break the waste particles down into smaller pieces. Peterson said about 70 percent of the electricity used in wastewater treatment plants is to operate mixers and blowers to supply aeration.
Air is needed to keep alive the bacteria, which feed on the waste.
By mechanically breaking the waste into smaller pieces, more of it is consumed by the bacteria, he said. If the particles are reduced mechanically, then less air is required to maintain the biology and therefore less electricity is used in the process, said the Kady official. Peterson said the primary objective of using the new process at the Lincoln mill s treatment plant is to lower the company s electrical costs. He estimates the mill will cut its electricity costs by between 10 and 25 percent. Another benefit is that the new process results in less sludge being produced, which means the Lincoln mill will have less to dispose of.