Convertus Canada Ltd. - Environmental Compliance Approval (waste)

This new Environmental Compliance Approval (waste disposal site) has been issued to Convertus CanadaLtd.for a new anaerobic digestion (AD) facility to be located at 50 Garfield Wright Boulevard, in East Gwillimbury, Ontario.

This new AD facility is a 5-hectare waste disposal site (processing) to receive, temporarily store and process up-to a maximum of 200 tonnes of the liquid Organic Waste per day, 1,800 tonnes of the solid Organic Waste per day, and 200,000 tonnes of solid and liquid Organic Waste per year. The AD facility will produce Renewable Natural Gas estimated at a maximum rate of 20,000,000 normalized cubic metres per year for injection into the natural gas distribution infrastructure and liquid digestate estimated at a maximum rate of 240,000 tonnes per year for use as a soil nutrient or a fertilizer.

The AD facility comprises the following receipt, storage and processing areas:

Process Building comprising the following waste management processes, working areas and equipment:

• Receiving Hall for truck/trailer access for receiving of the Organic Waste and opening of Organic Waste bags:
  • four (4) receiving bay doors, each equipped with an air curtain, for the Organic Waste truck/trailer access and for receipt of the solid IC&I Organic Waste in bins and totes;
  • one (1) bay door, for emergency removal of the Rejected Waste from the Site;
  • one (1) Waste Tipping Pit;
  • one (1) shredder to open bags;
  • a magnetic belt for ferrous metals removal; and
  • an eddy current separator for non-ferrous metals removal.
• Processing Hall for pre-processing, unloading of IC&I Organic Waste, Pasteurization, Digestate screening, loading of Digestate, and Residual Waste management:
  • one (1) intermediate feed hopper,
  • up-to five (5) de-packing lines for Organic Waste pre-processing;
  • five (5) bay doors, for Digestate, IC&I Organic Waste, Digestate Screenings and Residual Waste truck/trailer access;
  • dedicated areas for unloading of IC&I Organic Waste, and loading of Digestate and Residual Waste for transport off-Site;
  • four (4) Pasteurization Tanks, including heat exchangers and pumps for Anaerobic Digester Output Pasteurization;
  • Digestate Screening Room with screenings compaction container;
  • screw presses for de-watering of Residual Waste from Organic Waste pre-processing;
  • up-to two (2) compactors for compaction of Residual Waste;
• Optional washing station for washing IC&I Organic Waste bins and totes within the Receiving Hall or the Processing Hall;
• The following air pollution controls, including odour control systems/equipment:
  • ventilation system, that maintains negative air pressure in the Process Building and collects odourous air from the source extraction points that include, as a minimum, the following areas:the Receiving Hall,the Processing Hall andthe Air Treatment Hall,and discharging the odourous air into the Air Pollution Control Systems.
  • one (1) sulphuric acid scrubber to pre-treat air from the Pasteurization Tanks and the Digestate Screening Area and discharging into the Air Pollution Control Systems;
  • two (2) Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO) Units to pre-treat the air displaced from the Slurry Storage Tanks and the IC&I Tanks by removing hydrogen sulphide and volatile organic compounds prior to discharging into the Air Pollution Control Systems;
  • two (2) parallel identical Air Pollution Control Systems, each consisting of a dust filter, UV reactor and an activated carbon filter to treat the contaminated air collected through the ventilation system and from the sulphuric acid scrubber and the RTO Units;
• The following outdoor tanks and vessels:
  • up-to nine (9) IC&I Tanks, each equipped with a mixer, an optional heating system, an air-tight roof and connection to the RTO Units;
  • up-to four (4) Slurry Storage Tanks, each equipped with a mixer, an air-tight roof and connection to the RTO Units;
  • up-to four (4) Anaerobic Digesters, each having an internal heating system, sulphur removal system and multiple mixers and equipped with a double membrane roof and small in-line activated carbon filter(s) to treat the air between the membranes;
  • up-to two (2) fully mixed Digestate Storage Tanks, each equipped with a double membrane roof and a small in-line activated carbon filter to treat the air between the membranes;
• Biogas Management System, located outdoors and comprising the following processes, working areas and equipment:
  • one (1) Biogas Pre-Treatment System consisting of a biogas cooler, blower, two (2) activated carbon filters to remove hydrogen sulphide, at least one (1) activated carbon filter to remove volatile organic compounds, and an optional temperature swing adsorption unit for removal of volatile organic compounds and siloxanes, from raw biogas;
  • one (1) Biogas Upgrading System using membrane separation process to produce Renewable Natural Gas from Biogas, by separating methane from carbon dioxide;
  • Renewable Natural Gas compression to meet the pipeline feed-in station pressure requirements;
• Optional Carbon Dioxide liquefying system, located outdoors and comprising the equipment to upgrade, compress and store carbon dioxide for distribution off-site for beneficial use;
• one (1) Waste Gas Burner, located outdoors and operating as a stand-by Biogas or a Renewable Natural Gas combustion control device, exhausting to the atmosphere;
• three (3) dual-fuel boilers, two (2) duty, and one (1) standby, firing natural gas and Biogas, to provide process heat, and exhausting to the atmosphere;
• One (1) stormwater pond, equipped with an oil/grit separator, discharging to the natural surface water body.

To be used for processing of the following types of waste generated in the Province of Ontario:solid non-hazardous Organic Waste, andliquid non-hazardous Organic Waste,all derived from plants or animals, listed in Condition 3.1(2) of this Approval, from residential (domestic), industrial, commercial and institutional sources and all readily biodegradable and suitable for anaerobic digestion.