The Water Environment Federation (WEF) recently published the Solids Process Design and Management manual — a comprehensive update of Process Design Manual for Sludge Treatment and Disposal originally published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1979.
Tim Shea, CH2M HILL Fellow Residuals Management Technologist and Michael Moore, National Biosolids Lead at HDR, helped lead the effort as task force co-chairs. They were supported by senior EPA staffers Dr. James Smith and Robert Bastian.
"As the industry's existing go-to manual hadn't been updated in over 30 years, there were a lot of new processes, technologies, procedures and best practices that we needed to make sure were included in the new WEF manual and that would remain relevant until we update again in a few years," Shea said.
"This was a large undertaking—almost five years from inception to publication—and was only made possible by the efforts and thought leadership provided by the Task Force," he said. "I applaud everyone on a job well done in developing this document, which will be one of the leading references in the biosolids management field for decades to come."
The publication is intended for use by professionals engaged in the design, approval, and operation of municipal solids treatment and disposal systems. The new manual expands the previous manual from 19 to 26 chapters, with contemporary new material on planning, public outreach and involvement, and solids production and characterization.
Other topics include design approach, conveyance, conditioning, thickening, waste minimization, anaerobic and aerobic digestion, dewatering, composting, alkaline treatment, disinfection and stabilization, thermal drying, thermal oxidation, pyrolysis and gasification, transport and storage, odor management, sidestreams, instrumentation and monitoring, land application and product distribution, landfill management, emerging technologies, and treatment and utilization of green gases.
The publication is now available for purchase from WEF.
