Heat recovery from untreated wastewater A case study of heat recovery from sewer line to district heating network
Ola Vestberg [email protected]
Master of Science Thesis KTH School of Industrial Engineering and Management Energy Technology EGI-2017-0014 Division of Applied Thermodynamics and Refrigeration SE-100 44 STOCKHOLM
Examensarbete EGI 2017-0014 MSC Heat recovery from untreated wastewater - A case study of heat recovery from sewer line to district heating network
Ola Vestberg
Godkänt Examinator Handledare
Björn Palm Björn Palm
Uppdragsgivare Kontaktperson Käppalaförbundet & Annabella Hultman & Norrenergi AB Staffan Stymne
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Abstract High amounts of heat energy are today deposited into the urban wastewater system. The current society-wide development for energy efficiency has so far barely touched upon the area of wastewater heat conservation, which is why the share of total energy consumption from water use is increasing. Through this master thesis a case study was performed, assessing in particular the heat recovery potential from untreated wastewater in the common sewer line upstream from a wastewater treatment plant (Käppalaverket) for supply onto the local district heating network (Norrenergi) by the use of a heat pump solution. The current wastewater treatment process is using temperature dependant biological treatment for denitrifying the wastewater before it is disposed to the Baltic Sea, which poses limitations on upstream heat extraction.
The purpose of the study was to assess the heat recovery potential and possibilities when using untreated wastewater compared to what is done traditionally using treated wastewater after the treatment plant. Furthermore a technological review was done over the area of heat recovery from untreated wastewater and also an evaluation of potential equipment and technology suppliers.
Hydraulic modelling and thermodynamic simulations of the wastewater system were performed. Results showed that during a majority of the year approximately 4 MW of heat could be extracted while staying within conservative limits in regards to a minimum influent temperature as well as a maximum upstream temperature decrease. During wet season however, no or very limited heat could be recovered as the influent temperatures are already in a rather sensitive range in regards to the biological treatment process. At this level, through analysis of available equipment for heat recovery from untreated wastewater, a maximum heat amount of approximately 18 GWh per year could be supplied to the district heating network. Furthermore, it was found that reducing the amount of supplementary water in the system would be highly beneficial, both regarding HR potential but also for the treatment process in the plant. Also, if extensive HR performed by water consumers would occur, the model shows that this would probably have a negative effect on downstream temperature and the treatment process.
Through this study it was concluded that even though the theoretically available heat in the system is very large, the practical heat recovery potential is very limited under current conditions. The strongest reason is the limitation posed by the temperature requirements of the influent wastewater. If also cooling is considered, the heat recovery prospects might be better due to the lower net energy extraction from the wastewater.
Regarding the economic feasibility of an installation for heat recovery from untreated wastewater, the assessment made in this project showed that it may actually be comparable to projects using other types of waste heat.
The results and conclusions from this study should not be considered as a green light, or as motivation, for performing any upstream heat recovery installations. Such projects must be done in consensus with local authorities and especially the wastewater treatment plant in question. Further analyses in this area is considered essential before exploring it further, such as assessing the transient behaviour of the surrounding rock walls when heat is recovered upstream. The model used in this study also needs confirmation through actual temperature measurements within the system, which do not exist at the moment. Furthermore, a complete life cycle analysis should be carried out for the entire urban water system, which should find an optimal way of where to use and to recover the energy.
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Sammanfattning Stora mängder värme sköljs idag ner i avloppsnätet. Den pågående samhällsbreda utvecklingen för energieffektivisering har så här långt knappt rört vid området för spillvatten, varför andelen av den totala energikonsumtionen från vattenanvändning ökar. Inom detta examensarbete har en fallstudie genomförts där värmeåtervinning från orenat avloppsvatten längs avloppsnätets samlingsledning uppströms från Käppalaverkets reningsverk har utretts. Detta med hjälp av en värmepump för att förse Norrenergis fjärrvärmenät. Den nuvarande vattenreningsprocessen baseras på temperaturberoende biologisk rening för att denitrifiera spillvattnet innan det släpps ut i Östersjön, vilket sätter begränsningar på uppströms värmeuttag.
Studien syftade till att utreda potentialen och möjligheterna för att använda orenat avloppsvatten jämfört med att som traditionellt använda redan renat avloppsvatten efter reningsverket. Därtill utfördes en teknikinventering över området samt en utvärdering av potentiella teknik- och utrustningsleverantörer.
Hydraulisk modellering och termodynamiska simuleringar av avloppssystemet utfördes. Resultaten visade att under en majoritet av året så kan ungefär 4 MW värme extraheras från det orenade vattnet inom konservativa gränser i förhållande till tillåten minsta inloppstemperatur till reningsverket samt en maximal uppströms temperatursänkning. Under vintern dock så kan väldigt lite, eller till och med ingen, värme återvinnas på grund av att inloppstemperaturen till reningsverket redan befinner sig inom ett relativt kritiskt område i förhållande till den biologiska reningsprocessen. På denna nivå så kan uppskattningsvis maximalt 18 GWh per år förses till fjärrvärmenätet. Det fanns också att en reduktion av mängden tillskottsvatten skulle vara väldigt gynnsamt, både för värmeåtervinnings skull men även för själva reningsprocessen. Därtill, om utbredd uppströms värmeåtervinning hos konsumenterna skulle tillåtas, så visar modellen att detta skulle ha en negativ påverkan på nedströms reningsprocess.
Genom denna studie dras slutsatsen att trots att den teoretiskt tillgängliga värmen är stor i systemet så är de praktiska möjligheterna väldigt begränsade under nuvarande förhållanden. Den starkaste orsaken till detta är begränsningen som utgörs av temperaturkravet som reningsprocessen har. Om även kyla anses möjligt så ökar även möjligheterna för värmeåtervinning på grund av den lägre nettoeffekten från värmeåtervinning som sker.
Då den ekonomiska genomförbarheten analyserades fanns att en installation med värmeåtervinning från orenat avloppsvatten faktiskt är jämförbar med andra spillvärmeprojekt.
Det är viktigt att poängtera att resultat och slutsatser i denna studie inte bör anses som någon form av grönt ljus, eller som motivering, för att genomföra någon sorts uppströms installationer för värmeåtervinning. Projekt av sådan natur bör genomföras i samförstånd med lokala myndigheter, och i förlängningen även med avloppsreningsverket i fråga. Fortsatta analyser inom detta område betraktas som absolut nödvändiga före man exploaterar detta område vidare. Sådana studier är till exempel att analysera det transienta beteendet hos den omgivande bergväggen i avloppsnätet då värme börjar återvinnas uppströms. Modellen i denna studie behöver också vidare bekräftelse genom faktiska temperaturmätningar i avloppssystemet, vilka idag ej existerar. Vidare bör en fullständig livscykelanalys över hela det urbana vattensystemet göras, var man bör finna ett optimerat sätt att använda samt återta energin.
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List of Contents 1. Introduction ...... 7 2. Technology review - Wastewater Heat Recovery (WWHR) ...... 10 2.1 The concept of WWHR – system overview ...... 10 2.2 WWHR from sewer line ...... 13 2.3 Existing installations of large scale heat recovery from untreated wastewater ...... 14 2.4 Existing installations of heat recovery from treated wastewater in Sweden ...... 17 2.5 Suppliers of external HEX for untreated WW ...... 18 3. Case study – Heat recovery from sewer line to district heating (DH) network ...... 21 3.1 System description ...... 21 3.1.1 The WW system of Käppalaverket ...... 21 3.1.2 The DH and DC networks of Norrenergi ...... 22 3.1.3 Pre-requisites for the case study...... 23 3.1.4 Case study in relation to existing installations for WWHR from sewer line...... 23 3.3 Models ...... 25 3.3.1 Hydraulic model ...... 25 3.3.2 Heat pump model ...... 26 3.3.3 Performance model ...... 27 3.4 Results ...... 28 3.4.1 Heat resource side...... 28 3.4.2 Heat recipient side ...... 36 3.4.3 Technical alternatives ...... 37 3.5 Conclusions ...... 38 3.6 Recommendations & Further work ...... 39 4. A widened perspective – Wastewater heat recovery in Sweden ...... 40 4.1 Upstream heat recovery – The perspective of a WWTP process unit ...... 40 4.2 Legal and financial implications ...... 42 4.3 Temperature relationship – other large scale WWTP in Sweden ...... 43 References ...... 44 Appendix A – Flow measurement data used for connection points ...... 48
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List of Figures
Figure 1. The diversified system of heat recovery from wastewater...... 10 Figure 2. The two concepts of HR from the sewer line...... 13 Figure 3. Heat recovery (HR) system, energy facility...... 18 Figure 4. HUBER ThermWin concept...... 19 Figure 5. Flow scheme of Sharc system...... 20 Figure 6. Flow scheme of Sandvika wastewater heat recovery plant...... 20 Figure 7. Annual variation in influent volumetric flow rate and temperature to Käppalaverket WWTP, for the year 2014...... 22 Figure 8.Influent flow rate and temperature during spring 2014...... 22 Figure 9. HR potential, considering boundary for minimum influent temperature...... 28 Figure 10. HR potential, considering limit for actual temperature decrease...... 29 Figure 11. Temperature profile in the main tunnel, January-March...... 29 Figure 12. Temperature profile in the main tunnel, April-June...... 30 Figure 13. Temperature profile in the main tunnel, July-September...... 30 Figure 14. Temperature profile in the main tunnel, October-December...... 30 Figure 15.Temperatures and flow rates of main and connection tunnels, January-March average...... 31 Figure 16. Accumulated flow in main tunnel and the individual contributions, Jan-Mar average...... 32 Figure 17. Losses in the WW system, monthly basis...... 33 Figure 18. Decreased losses due to lowered tunnel temperatures...... 33 Figure 19. Temperature change relationship, Danderyd and influent...... 34 Figure 20. Influent water temperature if supplementary water was reduced...... 34 Figure 21. Influent water temperature when HR is extensively performed by consumers...... 35 Figure 22. Supplied power (left) and total heat (right) to DH net if heating only is considered. . 36 Figure 23. Supplied power (left) and total heat (right) to DH net if both heating and cooling are considered...... 36 Figure 24. Influent temperatures at WWTPs at different locations in Sweden...... 43
List of Tables
Table 1. Pros and cons of performing heat recovery (HR) at different sections of the WW system...... 12 Table 2. VEAS WWTP, general data...... 14 Table 3. SHR plant in Sandvika, general data...... 14 Table 4. SHR plant in Sköyen Vest, general data...... 15 Table 5. SHR plant False Creek energy centre, general data...... 16 Table 6. SHR facility at Borders College, general data...... 17
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Nomenclature Abbreviation Definition Coefficient of Performance COP Ratio between heat and electric power. A measure of how well a heat pump or refrigeration machine works. District heating DH Concept of heat provided to consumer from large central heat production facility. District heating network DH net Piping network that transports and supplies the centrally produced heat. District cooling DC Concept of cold provided to consumer from large central cold production facility. District cooling network DC net Piping network that transports and supplies the centrally produced cold. Ground water GW Water that is naturally maintained in the ground. Heat exchanger HEX Apparatus where heat is transferred between medias. Heat pump HP Apparatus consisting of several components, used for lifting/lowering temperatures of medias. Heat recovery HR Installation where heat is being recovered in the wastewater system. Other supplement water OSuppW Collective expression, all supplementary water except from ground water. Sewage heat recovery SHR Same meaning as WWHR, but used where more suitable in regards to how it is related where the facility in question exist. Sewage water SW The water in the sewer system that actually comes from consumers. Sewer system SS The system, i.e. the tunnel network that transports sewage water from consumers to the wastewater treatment plant. Supplement water SuppW All additional water in the sewer system besides sewage water from consumers. Wastewater WW Collective expression, including water from all sources. Wastewater heat recovery WWHR Concept of heat being recovered in wastewater system. Wastewater treatment WWTP Facility where wastewater is cleaned from plant residuals and substances.
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1. Introduction It is the year of 2016, the climate threat along with its awareness is greater than ever and an increasing number of climatic catastrophes are deduced to global warming and environmental pollutions. Mitigating strategies are many, in which energy efficiency has become a fashionable expression and its concept has today deeply infiltrated the mentality of politics, industry and city planners. The importance of energy conservation is today getting high priority, both at process level and system level. At system level, waste heat from industry as well as commercial and municipal facilities has long been used as an energy resource. Lately, focus has also turned to wastewater as a potential resource of waste heat, which has been only sparsely explored so far. In Sweden, it is estimated that as much as an annual 9 TWh of heat (BOFAST, n.d.) are flushed down the drain from water consumers to the joint sewage network. Compared to the estimation that industrial waste heat potential in Sweden amounts to up to 7.9 TWh (Cronholm, et al., 2009) and is being considered a substantial resource should indicate that residual heat in wastewater is a highly unused resource. To put this in perspective, the total energy supply in Sweden was 565 TWh in 2013 (Statens energimyndighet, 2015). However, the technical ability to recover the existing waste heat from wastewater is not accounted for in these numbers as the resource depends on local temperatures and flow rates with the wastewater.
Applications for heat recovery (HR) from wastewater (WW) do already exist, at different levels of the WW system. The majority of them as relatively small scale solutions in proximity to, or inside, buildings where the water was primarily used in the first place. These applications use e.g. heat exchangers (HEX) in shower floor drain, at outgoing pipes or in the joint pipes from several apartments (Jonsson, 2015). In larger scale, heat could be recovered using heat pumps from already treated water downstream of the waste water treatment plant (WWTP), which could be internally used in the WWTP or externally as e.g. district heating (DH). Recovery in these respective locations of the sewer system (SS) has their pros and cons but both provide a relatively uncomplicated situation in terms of technology and retrievable energy. Lastly, HR along the common sewer lines is today an unexplored area in Sweden, however approximately 100 projects exist outside of Sweden in varying capacity, the majority of them in Switzerland and Germany but also in China and Japan (Suda & Carmichael, 2015). As a large scale example in Sandvika, Norway, a sewage heat recovery plant (SHRP) was employed in 1987 for providing heating and cooling to the Baerum municipality after a study showing that a SHRP would be the most economical solution. Sewage is pumped from the sewage into the plant where two heat pumps and a four-pipe system are used to extract the energy. The heat pumps each have a capacity of 6.5 MW for heating and 4.5 MW for cooling. This covers 80% of the required peak load capacity and 52% of the total energy supply (Friotherm, n.d.). In a similar manner in Vancouver, Canada, a SHRP was constructed in 2010 which today provides 70% of domestic hot water and space heating demand of the region it serves, producing approximately 30’000 MWh in 2015, including supplementary natural gas firing (City of Vancouver, 2016). These two successful projects have been carried out in cities not dissimilar to e.g. Stockholm, Sweden, in terms of average temperatures and precipitation which may motivate for the investigation of conducting a similar SHR project there as well.
The available heat and potential for HR are not easily determined. The available heat is directly dependant of temperature and flow rate of the water, factors that in turn are decided by a wide range of parameters that differs within the specific SS in question, between different local SSs and also between geographical regions of the SSs. The potential for HR has been subject to numerous studies, with a seemingly common conclusion that every opportunity for HR projects is unique and must be pre-assessed under a longer time range in terms of temperature and water flow. This is expressed by e.g. (Suda, 2016) and (Knippenberg, 2014), both involved in different SHR projects concluding that no modelling can replace a thorough feasibility study. Studies from Germany and Switzerland show that WW could provide the basis for heating and cooling of up to 3% of all buildings (Schmidt, n.d.). In Vancouver, Canada, with 2.4 million inhabitants and WW temperature range of 10-25°C, an analysis has shown that 100 MW could be recovered from the SS region wide (Suda & Carmichael, 2015). According to (Hepbasli, et al., 2014), in any city in Turkey, 40% of the produced heat ends up
7 as wasted heat in the sewer system. Compared to other countries, the potential in Sweden should at sight be great regarding its vastly expanded DH network for making use of the retrievable heat in the sewer system.
It could be argued about the fact that heat is lost along the stretch of the sewer tunnels. In Sweden, the ground temperature is fairly constant between 8 and 12 °C around the year. As the temperature in the influent water ranges from 8 to 18°C, it is implied that heat exchange occur between sewage water and surrounding grounds of the tunnel. From a study made by (Abdel-Aal, et al., 2014) measured values for Antwerp, Netherlands, show that the temperature drops by as much as 4 K per km of sewer pipe during periods. Another source tells that after travelling 10 km in sewer pipes, the sewage will have the same temperature as surrounding ground (Elias-Maxil, et al., 2014). The distance will be smaller with smaller pipes and temperatures due to the lower energy distribution of the mass. The issue of heat losses along the sewer line is recognized as highly relevant and in need of modelling.
Attempts of modelling HR potential has been made in different ways. Work has been done by (Dürrenmatt & Wanner, 2014) to create a mathematical model for predicting WW temperature downstream of a HR plant. From the model, it was found that heat exchange between WW and pipe wall is the most important process of heat transfer. However, lateral inflows are not accounted for which are normally not negligible, which limits the general applicability of the model. Another modelling tool, developed by KWL, is a heat-seeking sewer model (Suda & Carmichael, 2015). It creates an overview of HR potential at every location within the entire sewer network. The model accounts for a vast range of factors, including groundwater infiltration and rainfall, and adopts many field measurement points and is calibrated against WWTP influent flow rates and temperatures with a maximum temperature error of 7% in the winter season. The strength of the model is to quickly identify areas with significant heat potential (Suda, 2016). Further modelling, based on data from conditions in Amsterdam was performed by (Maxil, 2015) to assess energy content in the sewer network and implications of cooling the network. This model is built up by sub-models such as a stochastic model for WW discharge from households and a temperature estimating model, TEMPEST. The model is admitted not fully coherent with field data but needs further development, but substantial work has been done and the model could be used as a foundation for specified simulation.
As for the requirements that HR from the sewer network would be successful, it has been identified that a minimum requirement of 10 litres per second and minimum width of 600 mm is needed at the sewer location where heat is extracted, referring to heat exchangers placed inside the sewage tunnel. Furthermore, (Maxil, 2015) claims from other reliable literature that economic feasibility is reached only if heat demand is above approximately 1 MW. Also, a bivalent system is preferred before a monovalent, i.e. that the heat pump provides the base load and an external burner or boiler is used for peak requirements (Knippenberg, 2014).
In Sweden, resistance against HR along the common sewer line exists. One of the major concerns when extracting heat from the sewer line is the feared effect that this will have on the nitrification process in the WWTP due to the implied temperature decrease of the influent water to the plant. This matter is highly relevant as one of the major tasks of the WWTP is to clean out nitrogen from the sewage and this process must not be compromised in regards to Swedish legislation in the extension of EU directives (European Union, 1991). Specifically the Baltic Sea is a sensitive area and subject of eutrophication which requires high levels of temperature dependant nitrogen removal from the WW. Previous research on downstream temperature effect tells different stories. Conclusions were made by (Wanner, et al., 2005) through modelling of ammonium levels in the WWTP that occurrence of reduced influent temperature under only a few hours’ time should not affect the nitrification because of hydraulic inertia in the large basins of the WWTPs. Permanently reduced influent temperatures however will have an effect on the nitrification process. In numbers, this effect is expressed as a 1°C decrease in influent temperature will result in 10% reduced net specific growth rate as well as the safety factor. This effectively leads to the need of either a 10% larger sludge tank which in extension would require a general capacity increase throughout the entire plant layout. This research suggests to stay on the conservative side when extracting heat from the sewer line. In Germany and Switzerland,
8 where WWHR installations already exist, regulations demand that temperature is only decreased a maximum of 0.5 K and that the final daily average of the influent temperature to the WWTP must not be below 10°C, which is the normal design temperature of the WWTPs in Switzerland (Maxil, 2015). Conclusively, it is difficult to generalize the findings why it all comes down to a necessity for an evaluation and analysis on the local level and the specific sewage system in question.
Background and objectives of the study As awareness and knowledge about energy conservation increases, actors on the energy market are acknowledging a growing number of sources of waste heat. DH company Norrenergi (NE) together with Käppalaförbundet (KFB), a wastewater treatment company has been introduced to the possibility of recovering heat from the wastewater in KFBs sewer line and supply it to NEs DH net. This concept would potentially be a great use of otherwise wasted heat and an increased energy efficiency within the urban water cycle and the WW system. To determine the potential and possibilities for a WWHR installation, a techno-economical pre-study was performed. The pre-study was carried out as a master thesis project which is presented in this report. The core of the pre-study was the site specific case study for a realized promising site in the municipality of Danderyd. The specific objectives of this project pre-study were to;
Investigate the energy potential in the sewage, within the limits of what could be extracted without affecting the treatment process at the WWTP. Determine specific technical and practical possibilities to perform HR along the sewer line. Perform and present a technology review over the field of HR from WW. Assess the economic investments of a potential WWHR project. Assess the environmental impact of a potential WWHR project.
After this introductory chapter, a technology review of WWHR concepts, techniques, suppliers and existing installations are presented in chapter 2. Next in chapter 3, the case study is presented including a general description of the interested parties (KFB and NE) and their respective systems of WW and DH, the pre-requisites and questions set for the study, the methodology and model for finding answers and finally the results, technical evaluation and conclusions of the case study. After the case study is presented, a more general discussion is presented regarding the potential for WWHR around the country, in the light of the information retrieved as well as the problems and possibilities identified through the case study.
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2. Technology review - Wastewater Heat Recovery (WWHR) This chapter describes first the overview of the wide concept of performing HR from different stages in the WW system, from a general perspective. More focus is then put on HR from the sewer line, directed towards the case study related to this thesis. Then, a number of existing projects of large scale WWHR projects around the world are described. Lastly, required technical equipment and a number of technologies and suppliers are presented in this chapter.
2.1 The concept of WWHR – system overview The concept of HR from WW could be considered highly diversified and the ways of making use of the available heat are many. In this section, a system overview is presented. First, the system is divided into three levels. Level 1 represents the WW system, all the way upstream from the water consumption to the final effluent from the WWTP, where the potential heat resource exists. Level 2 is the transferring system that connects Level 1 and Level 3, i.e. the technical system that provides heat from resource to final demand. Finally, Level 3 is the receiving system, i.e. where the heat is finally to be reclaimed. Figure 1 depicts an overall view of the different system levels and its diversified sections.
Figure 1. The diversified system of heat recovery from wastewater. From top to bottom, Level 1 represents the energy resource within the WW system, Level 2 the transferring technologies and Level 3 the recipient system. Red lines denote heat transfer and blue lines cold transfer. The dotted line indicates the focus area of this project.
In regards to a possible HR project, the heat resource in Level 1 is what decides the potential of the HR project as in how much heat could be recovered in terms of power (peak load) and total produced heat (capacity). On the other side, the heat demand of the recipients in Level 3 is also a deciding factor for the economic viability of the HR project, as in what heat power and capacity is required for the supply to be economically advantageous from other heating alternatives. Lastly, the Level 2 technologies must comply with the restrictions and requirements from the resource and the recipient demands, in terms of economy and technical efficiency. It could also be the case that the Level 2 technologies available are insufficient and becomes the limiting factor. Perhaps supplementary equipment is needed for providing external heating to meet the demand if the resource is too small. All in all, the success of a HR project depends on the specific project case but also on the matching and balancing of the three levels.
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Heat resource (Level 1) At Level 1, HR could be performed at different locations within the WW system. In what way and to what extent this is possible depends on the temperature and flow rate with the WW at the specific location in question. The highest temperatures in the WW system is found upstream from the WWTP, closest to the consumers, where the flow consists of a high share of high-temperature sewage water (SW) from the consumers. The further downstream the WW runs in the system, the temperature is lower. This is partly because of the mixing with low-temperature supplement water (i.e. a mix between storm water, drainage water and ground water) which is in fact generally lower than the SW and also than the influent temperature to the WWTP and also because the WW becomes subject to heat losses to the inside and to surrounding grounds of the tunnels. However, even though the inflow of supplementary water (SuppW) decreases the average WW temperature, SuppW still contributes with some amount of energy and also provides a higher total flow rate. Thus, the total energy resource is increased by the SuppW. The inflow and infiltration of supplement water is far from fully mapped in regards to its flow rates, amounts and what locations in the WW system it occurs. Estimations for the WW systems in Stockholm are that it accounts for up to 40% of the total WW influent to the WWTP (Käppalaverket, n.d.) and that the temperature is somewhat close to the ambient outdoor temperature (Käppalaverket, n.d.). Projects are in motion from the WWTPs attempting to decrease the amount of supplement water in the WW system as it also carries a lot of species that are not subject of cleaning in the WWTP. Furthermore, diurnal fluctuations in the water consumption and seasonal trends of the WW temperatures and flow rates bring additional dimensions to the system.
It is quickly realized that it is a rather complex task to determine the available heat at a specific location, especially the further downstream the site is located. It is usually in need of field measurements at the specific site. Understandably, the resource is more predictable far upstream, closer to the consumer deposit into the WW system, or at post-treatment downstream of the WWTP where temperature and flow rate of the effluent is usually relatively well known. To sum up, the WW resource potential depends on factors such as;
Available heat in the WW tunnel. Varies with temperature and flow rates which are dependent on daily and seasonal patterns. Allowable temperature decrease from the WW, as decided by WWTP from its accepted lowest influent temperature. Accessibility of the tunnel section, for withdrawal of sewage and installation of equipment. Distance to recipient, as heat losses occur. Distance to electricity network, for installation of equipment with electricity demand.
From the overall perspective, the HR opportunities and applications at different locations from the WW system have their pros and cons. Advantages and disadvantages discussed above, are summarized in Table 1 below.
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Table 1. Pros and cons of performing heat recovery (HR) at different sections of the WW system. Advantages Disadvantages In-house High water temperature High fluctuations Short heat transport (Low losses) Difficult to match peak demand Producers = Consumers Decentralized system, high operative No impact from supplement water expenses From sewer Large amounts of WW Dependant on sewage network line Relatively short heat transport Potentially impacts WWTP processes Moderate WW temperature Untreated WW inside equipment, potentially retrieves otherwise lost higher downtime and equipment costs heat along sewer From treated No impact on WWTP processes Plants not close to consumer water Large effluent flow rate large heat Low WW temperature supply Clean water through equipment Cools WW deposited to environment Source: Adapted and extended from (Culah, et al., 2015)
Heat recipients (Level 3) As for the heat recipients in Level 3, HR downstream of the WWTP could be done for the purpose of using the heat internally in the processes of the WWTP such as sludge drying or providing pre-heating for the digestion process in the digestion tanks. It could also be utilised externally to provide to either a DH net, e.g. as performed at Henriksdalsverket in Stockholm lowering the exit temperature to 0.5-4 °C (Stockholm Vatten, 2016), or used for heating of local neighbourhoods which is carried out at Käppalaverket on the island of Lidingö, providing 9 GWh a year (Käppalaförbundet, 2016). In direct connection to the consumers, heat in the WW could be recovered through so called in-house applications. The recipients of the recovered heat are the consumer themselves as the heat through these applications is normally recirculated by heat exchanging of outgoing water in different ways. In this manner, the producer becomes the consumer as well as the least amount of heat is lost to the sewer system. However, in Sweden, regulations on municipal level apply that the temperature of the outgoing water to the WW system must not be lower than the cold fresh water provided to the consumer in the first place (Danderyds kommun, 2008). This limits the heat harvesting with in-house applications. For HR projects the heat recipient may pose conditions for design and dimensions in terms of;
Demand of delivered power, i.e. peak demand (kW) Demand of delivered amount of heat (kWh) Demand of delivered temperature level. Whether the HR project should provide for the entire power and heat demands and temperature level or if supplementary supply (from e.g. firing) is considered.
The possibility also exist, as mentioned in Figure 1, of using heat storage such as accumulators or so called phase change materials (PCM) for buffering heat and use at other time spans (and potentially other locations) from when the heat is harvested. Heat storage also occurs in a DH net, which utilises an accumulator in order to cover the diurnal demand changes.
Heat transferring technology (Level 2) The heat transferring technologies of level 2, between source and recipient, are directly related to where the heat is recovered within the WW system. Within the in-house HR applications, HEXs in different forms and stages are used to recirculate heat, which has been mapped and illustrated by e.g. (Jonsson, 2015). Within the areas of HR from the sewer line or from treated water, the use of a heat exchanger and a connected heat pump are commonly used to lift the final temperature to the recipients. An indicative number for heat pumps are that it uses around 20-33% (Hart, 2011) electrical power of the thermal output, yielding a coefficient of performance (COP) of 3-5 depending on temperature
12 operating points. For the situations of HR from either sewer line or from treated water, the transferring technologies could differ in ways of;
Type of transferring unit, depends on specific demands of Level 1 and Level 2. If heat transfer is divided into a single or multiple steps. Depends on what parts are in contact with the untreated WW. Type of refrigerant and heat transferring media. Biofilm mitigation technique and maintenance requirements.
The technology for HR from the sewer line from untreated water is further described in the next section.
2.2 WWHR from sewer line As described in the previous section, HR could be performed at different locations in the WW system, in Level 1. Focusing deeper on HR from the sewer line, it is common that a HEX together with a heat pump is used for recovering and supplying the heat. The heat exchanging could be performed either within the sewer or by withdrawing water from the sewer and perform external heat exchanging outside the tunnels (Schmidt, n.d.). The principle for HR from the sewer line includes a number of characteristic steps that are common for all existing projects that have been performed.
The most critical technology requirement is for the specific heat exchanging from the untreated WW to the heat receiving medium. This requires contact with the untreated WW which impose the issue of solid particles handling and the compliance with greases and sludge. The heat exchanging could be performed in two ways, as depicted through Figure 2 below.
Figure 2. The two concepts of HR from the sewer line. To the left, direct HR inside tunnel and to the right, external HR outside the tunnel.
On the left hand side, heat exchanging is performed directly inside the tunnel through HEXs integrated in the tunnel segments or through surface HEXs. A connecting heat pump is used to lift the temperature up to the desired level at the recipient. To the right, the WW is diverted from the sewer line for performing the heat exchange externally.
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2.3 Existing installations of large scale heat recovery from untreated wastewater The idea of large scale HR from untreated sewage where external heat exchanging is performed, has not been widely explored. Only a few installations have been carried out of which the majority of them are described here. The descriptions here are regarding the WW systems that are connected, the equipment used for HR and some operation parameters.
SHR Sandvika, Oslo (Norway) VEAS WWTP treats WW from 600’000 P.E. in 3 municipalities in Oslo, Norway. It has a dry weather flow of minimum 1900 litres per second (l/s) and a maximum flow of 9000 l/s during wet weather flow. The minimum requirement for nitrogen cleaning is 70% (VEAS, 2016), but no effluent nitrogen limits exist. The last years, the nitrogen treatment has been quite poor, but exemption has been allowed from authorities due to adjustments in the process (VEAS, 2014), (VEAS, 2015). The treated water is finally disposed to the Oslo fjord. Table 2 below summarizes the data.
Table 2. VEAS WWTP, general data. Quantity Unit Source Influent flow rates (min/avg/max) 1900/3390/9380 l/s [1] Influent temperature (min/avg/max) 6/11/19 °C [1] Nitrogen removal limit (min) 70 % [2] Nitrogen removed 60 (2014) & 53 (2015) % [2], [3] Treatment method Biofilm reactors - [4] Sources: [1] (Ryrfors, 2016) [2] (VEAS, 2014), [3] (VEAS, 2015), [4] (VEAS, 2016)
Upstream from VEAS WWTP, a SHR plant is located. Oslofjord Fjarnvarme AS, owned by the Fortum group, is providing DH and DC to the local communities using raw sewage as heat source at the Sandvika plant since 1987. In the planning of the SHR plant it was realized that HEXs submerged in the sewer would not be sufficient for the large extraction capacity. The WW is therefore extracted from the sewer and pre-treated (screened) through filtration and sedimentation before entering the HEX. The sedimentation chamber is a relatively large one. The HEXs are of shell and tube type. The two heat pump units are working in serial operation and each has a capacity of 6.5 MW for heating and 4.5 MW for cooling. The chilled water (sea water) is cooled in the first heat pump from 8 to 4°C, going out to the DC net. In the second heat pump, the WW is cooled from 10 to 6°C and the output temperature from the HP is 78°C (Friotherm, n.d.). More detailed data are presented in Table 3 below.
Table 3. SHR plant in Sandvika, general data. Quantity/Type Unit Source Type of heat pump (HP1/HP2) UNITOP 28 C / 28 [1] WW flow rate (HP1/HP2) n/a l/s [1] Heated water flow (HP1/HP2) 160 l/s [1] WW temp In-Out (HP1/HP2) 8.0-4.0(seawater)/10.0-6.0 °C [1] Heated water temp In-Out (HP1/HP2) 57.0-78 °C [1] COP (COP incl. cooling) 3.1 (5.22) - [1] Refrigerant (HP1/HP2) R134a [1] Heating capacity (HP1/HP2) 13 (6.5/6.5) MW [2] Cooling capacity (HP1/HP2) 9 (4.5/4.5) MW [2] Heat source (supplementary) Oil burners [2] Heating capacity (supplementary) n/a MW n/a Power at terminal 4.5 MW [1] Energy from WW 24.4 GWh [1], [2] Annual heat production 47 GWh [2] Annual cold production 11 GWh [2] Production share (WW/Suppl.) of total 52/48 % [2] Sources: [1] (Pietrucha, 2012); [2] (Friotherm, n.d.)
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SHR Sköyen Vest, Oslo (Norway) Upstream from VEAS WWTP is also second application installed that uses raw sewage as heat source in the Sköyen heat pump plant, owned by Hafslund Fjernvarme AS, formerly Viken Fjernvarme (Bush & Shiskowski, 2008). In fact, this is the largest of its kind in the world since the commissioning in 2005 and expansion in 2007. It provides both DH and DC and has a heating capacity of almost 28 MW from WW alone. The remarkable with this plant, apart from its size, is that it yields a high output temperature of 90°C from the heat pumps to the DH net (Bailer & Pietrucha, 2006). The WW is pre- treated through filtration and sedimentation but with a smaller sedimentation chamber than in Sandvika which requires more frequent cleaning. Both applications in Oslo are using reversed flow for avoiding biofilm formation in the evaporator (WasteWaterHeat, 2010). General data for the plant is presented in Table 4.
Table 4. SHR plant in Sköyen Vest, general data. Amount Unit Source Type of heat pump (HP1/HP2) UNITOP 50 FY / 34 FY [2] WW flow rate (HP1/HP2) 650/390 l/s [2] Heated water flow (HP1/HP2) 150/80 l/s [1],[2] WW temp In-Out (HP1/HP2) 10.0-5.76 / 10.0-6.3 °C [1] Heated water temp In-Out (HP1/HP2) 75.5-90 / 60-75.5(90) °C [1] COP (HP1/HP2) 2.83-3.5 (2.80/2.89) - [2] Refrigerant (HP1/HP2) R134a/R134a [2] Heating capacity (HP1/HP2) 27.6 (18.4/9.2) MW [1] Cooling capacity 12.134 MW [2] Heat source (supplementary) Electricity [2] Heating capacity (supplementary) 12 MW [1] Power at terminal 6.62 MW [2] Energy from WW 90 GWh [3] Annual heat production 130 GWh [4] Annual cool production n/a GWh n/a Production share (WW/Suppl.) 91/9 % [4] Sources: [1] (Pietrucha, 2012); [2] (Bailer & Pietrucha, 2006); [3] (Hart, 2011); [4] (Hafslund, 2016)
Hafslund AS is purchasing the heat that is extracted from the WW from the inter-municipal company VEAS which owns the SS and the WW. The Sköyen Vest project was funded by a 20% support from the Oslo energy efficiency fund Enova (Nilsen, 2016).
SHR False Creek energy centre, Vancouver (Canada) Iona Island WWTP provides primary treatment of sewage from around 600’000 P.E. Local treatment regulations are allowing a maximum 130 mg/l biochemical oxygen demand and 100 mg/l for total suspended solids (Metro Vancouver, 2016). It has an influent flow rate of 4500 l/s in dry season and 8500 l/s wet season with WW temperatures ranging between 12 and 24 °C (Metro Vancouver, 2014), while no nitrogen treatment limits apply. Therefore no nitrogen treatment is performed at this stage but an upgrade to secondary treatment is planned by 2030. The SS is a combined one that collects both SW from consumers and SuppW. The SS consist mainly of concrete pipes laid in the ground (Hunt, 2016).
From the sewer line upstream from the WWTP in the False Creek neighbourhood energy centre, untreated sewage are screened and passed through HP evaporators, recovering heat for providing DH to the local community. This is the first installation in North America and was installed in 2010 (Comeault, 2011) and is owned and operated by the city of Vancouver (City of Vancouver, 2016). The facility will be expanded in 2018 and increase its SHR capacity from 3 MW to approximately 8 MW. This due to that the actual WW temperatures were higher than what was designed for and there is potential for expansion (McConnell, 2013). Two heat pumps are in operation today, with the
15 possibility to work in series or in parallel for turndown and operating range. In this way, hot water flow and discharge temperature could be varied in a wide range. In this installation, reversed flow is used for avoiding biofilm formation on the HEX tubes. Also quarterly de-fouling is performed (WasteWaterHeat, 2010). General data for False Creek energy centre are summarized in Table 5 below.
Table 5. SHR plant False Creek energy centre, general data. Quantity/Type Unit Source Type of heat pump (HP1/HP2) Tecsir [1] WW flow rate 100-120 l/s [1] Heated water flow 20-45 l/s [1] WW temp In (Summer/Winter) 16-20/23-25 °C [1] Heated water temp Out (Par./Ser.) 70/82 °C [1] COP 2.9-3.4 - [1] Refrigerant (HP1/HP2) R134a [3] Heating capacity 3 (8 in 2018) MW [1] Cooling capacity 0 MW n/a Heat source (supplementary) Natural gas boiler [1] Heating capacity (supplementary) 16 MW [1] Power at terminal n/a MW n/a Energy from WW 44 GWh n/a Annual heat production 63 GWh [2] Annual cool production 0 MWh n/a Production share (WW/Suppl.) of total 70/30 % [1] Sources: [1] (McConnell, 2013); [2] (Comeault, 2011), [3] (Baber, 2017)
The City of Vancouver owns and operates all facilities within the WW system, i.e. everything from WW and WWTP to HR facility and heat distribution system.
SHR Borders College, Galashiels (Scotland) In Galashiels, Scotland, a project was launched in 2015, where heat is recovered from the SW at the Borders College, close to the city of Edinburgh, for providing local heating to the college campus. Galashiels wastewater treatment works (WWTW) receives and treats the WW downstream with a P.E. of 27000. Nitrogen treatment limitation of 15 mg/l is set and is reached using secondary treatment including biological filters, humus tanks and a final natural treatment in a lagoon before releasing the treated water into the River Tweed (East of Scotland Water, 2001).
The SHR project is carried out by Scottish Water and Sharc energy systems, who also set up a range of measuring equipment for establishing that the downstream temperature and ultimately the biological process of the WWTP was not affected (Brockett, 2016). The general data for this SHR plant is summarized below in Table 6.
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Table 6. SHR facility at Borders College, general data. Quantity/Type Unit Source Type of heat pump Carrier [1] WW flow rate 32 l/s [1] Heated water flow n/a (to match demand) l/s [1] WW temp In (Cold/Warm season) 7-8/13-16 °C [1] Heated water temp Out 50-60 °C [1] COP 4.8 - [1] Refrigerant (HP1&HP2) R134a (shifting to HFOs) Heating capacity 800 (2*400) kW [1] Cooling capacity 0 MW n/a Heat source (supplementary) Natural gas boiler [1] Heating capacity (supplementary) n/a MW n/a Power at terminal 500-600 kW [1] Energy from WW 1.9 GWh n/a Annual heat production 1.9 (+5% from Suppl) GWh [1] Annual cool production 0 MWh n/a Production share (WW/Suppl.) of total 95/5 % [1] Sources: [1] (Dunsmore, 2016)
The facility is on land owned by the college but the equipment is owned by Sharc energy systems which sells the heat to the college over a 20 year heat sell agreement. The investment also has support from Equitix and UK Green Investment Bank (Borders College, 2016).
The energy facility at Borders College has installed sewage HP units parallel to the old existing natural gas boiler and an added valve on the water supply line to the boiler that diverts the heated water so that it passes through the HPs instead of the boiler for most of the time. The heated water is thereby distributed between the two heat sources according to the heat demand. The operation is simple, as everything is automatically regulated and only remote supervision is required. Prior to the project start, simple pre-calculations were performed by staff at the WWTP downstream regarding the feared temperature drop in the influent WW to the WWTP. The rough estimates, as in percentage energy extraction, showed that the potential temperature decrease of the influent WW to the WWTP would be at most a few degrees. After installations, post-measurements were performed. Since the installation in December 2015 no temperature decrease has so far been detected downstream, at least none that could be directly related to the HR occurring upstream. Also in further planned projects, such as a large scale installation of 20 MW heating and 14 MW cooling, it is assumed that the limits for wastewater treatment will not be exceeded. It is believed that heavy rainfalls still have larger influence on the influent water than HR will have. Scottish water sees continuing success of further projects by having a strong belief in the equipment they are utilising for the HR as well as having very supportive governmental relationships.
2.4 Existing installations of heat recovery from treated wastewater in Sweden As comparative information, this section presents some installations in Sweden that uses the already treated wastewater after the WWTPs. Information was collected from installations at Käppalaverket, Solnaverket, Hammarbyverket and Ryaverket (Gothenburg).
Käppalaverket From the treated WW in K-verket, Käppalaförbundet recovers heat for the local community of Gåshaga. The WW holds an average outlet temperature of 13-14°C from the WWTP to the heat pump inlet and the heat pump using R134a refrigerant increases the temperature to suitable level for heating nearby dwellings. The total production is around 9 GWh annually. However, the ambition is to increase this number (Käppalaverket, n.d.).
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Solnaverket As part of NEs heat production, they use treated water from Brommaverket. They use four heat pumps, in total 75-100 MW and the COP is between 2.6 and 3.1, using R134a as refrigerant. The annual production is over 550 GWh (Norrenergi AB, 2015).
Hammarbyverket Fortum Värme uses treated WW from Henriksdals WWTP for producing heat onto their DH net. It has seven heat pumps in total, with a peak capacity of totally 225 MW. Some are using R134a and some R22 as refrigerant. Over 900 GWh is recovered from the treated WW. It performs a temperature lift from 10-19°C up to 60-90°C onto the DH net, while decreasing the WW temperature correspondingly from 10-19°C down to between 0.5 and 11°C depending on the season (AB Fortum Värme, 2012).
Ryaverket (Gothenburg) At Ryaverket in Gothenburg, Göteborgs Energi both treats the WW and recovers heat from it. Four heat pumps have a capacity of 160 MW and produce annually 440 GWh, all using R134a as refrigerant. The temperature lift is from 12 to 70-90°C while the corresponding temperature decrease of the WW is from 12 to 3°C (Göteborg Energi AB, 2014).
To summarize, the current installations which use already treated WW for HR in Sweden have much higher production levels than the installations abroad (presented in the previous section) using untreated WW from the sewer line. It could also be noted that the outlet WW temperatures from the WWTPs are relatively high. It does in fact increase slightly from the inlets of the WWTPs due to the biochemical activity which is exothermic.
2.5 Suppliers of external HEX for untreated WW Looking at the area where sewage is withdrawn from the sewer in order to extract heat outside of the sewer tunnel, the necessary stages for an energy facility is represented in Figure 3 below.
Figure 3. Heat recovery (HR) system, energy facility.
From left to right, water is diverted through a runoff channel from the sewer line to a collective shaft, often called a wet well. The wet well is used for initial pre-treatment in terms of a strainer but also for maintaining a controlled flow for the water pump. The actual pre-treatment often contains a sedimentation step and could be performed to different extent depending on how clean the WW needs to be for passing through the HEX. In the HEX, heat is transferred from the WW to an intermediate fluid, e.g. brine, before led to the heat pump. The heat pump is depicted as a simple vapour compression cycle, where in the heat pump evaporator the intermediate fluid exerts heat to a refrigerant which then goes through a phase change (from liquid to gas) at the low pressure side. The heat pump compressor provides a higher pressure and a higher temperature of the refrigerant. Through the higher pressure, the refrigerant boiling point becomes higher, why it becomes possible to exert heat to the DH water in the condenser at higher temperature while phase changing back to liquid state. The heat pump expansion valve then decreases the pressure of the refrigerant gas. Regarding the HEX, the intermediate step is not always necessary. In some cases, the WW is passed directly through the heat pump evaporator, which in that case works as the HEX that absorbs heat from the WW.
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Auxiliary equipment is also required which must also be mentioned. Such equipment are pumps and piping (in order to transport WW and heat transferring media around the system) but also a control system that enables automatic and dynamic operation as well as the possibility to supervise and keeps track of the operation.
A few manufacturers exist that has tried to comply with the issue of biofilm formation and clogging in HEXs. A number of them have been investigated and are presented below.
Huber Technology Huber’s technology withdraws sewage from the sewer channel through a strainer system that clears out solid particles and into a wet well culvert. The greywater is then pumped up through a HEX (RoWin) where a secondary fluid absorbs the heat. An automatic cleaning system prevents formation of biofilm on the HEX pipes. Residual sludge and sedimentation are passed out from the floor of the HEX via a screw transporter (Huber Technology, n.d.). Figure 4 shows the flow scheme of a representative system utilising Huber ThermWin technology.
Figure 4. HUBER ThermWin concept. Sewage is diverted from the sewer tunnel through a strainer to the sewage drum. Source: (Huber Technology, n.d.)
The HUBER technology has been adopted in several applications in especially Germany, normally used for small to medium size installations. The specific treatment technology is regarded patented property, but is based on mechanical removal through a built-in device that periodically removes sludge from the HEX pipes. The heat pump in connection to the RoWin heat exchanger is not of Sharc manufacturing but must be adapted from other suppliers. Thereby, an intermediate stage is used before the heat pump in relation to Figure 3 earlier.
Sharc Technology Most of the installations that Sharc has been involved in so far is in direct relation to larger facilities, such as multi-resident buildings, community centres etc. The outgoing water from the buildings are collected in a wet well. The Sharc technology extracts sewage from the wet well, passes it through a macerator that reduces the size of particles in the sewage before filtering out the solids along with the greases and sludge in the next stage. This stage is the specific treatment technology that is regarded patented property and which is claimed to be in need of no periodic cleaning. This would mean that little maintenance is required. This has been of specific focus of the technology. The now clean water is led into a HEX that interacts with the loop of the building in question. Figure 5 shows the flow scheme of the Sharc technology.
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Figure 5. Flow scheme of Sharc system. Source: (Arcadis, 2013)
Normally, a heat pump is placed separately after the heat exchanger to raise the temperature to the heat recipient, as performed at Borders College described in previous section. The heat pump is not of Sharc manufacturing but must be adapted from other suppliers. The wet well exists, if required, as a separate tank unit which means no construction work is needed for setting up a wet well shaft. Also Sharc utilises an intermediate step before operating the heat pump.
Friotherm Friotherm has been involved in many large scale HR projects, among which the two SHR installations in Oslo is using Friotherm equipment, described in previous section. With the Friotherm equipment (called Unitop), the HEX where the sewage is passed could be used directly as a heat pump evaporator (or condenser), meaning no intermediate HEX stage is needed. In Sandvika for example, a site construction is carried out where both mechanical filtration and sedimentation is performed. The flow scheme is shown in Figure 6 below.
Figure 6. Flow scheme of Sandvika wastewater heat recovery plant. Source: (Friotherm, n.d.) Friotherm equipment also utilises the concept of backflow in their heat pumps in order to avoid bio- film formation. The Unitop units could be operated over a wide range of heating power demands, with stage-less part load operation. Heat pump capacities of up to 20 MW exists (Friotherm, n.d.).
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3. Case study – Heat recovery from sewer line to district heating (DH) network As a part of this master thesis, a case study was performed where the possibilities of connecting the respective systems of the two project providers, Käppalaförbundet (KFB) and Norrenergi (NE), were assessed. The specific case was regarding the geographical area around Danderyd’s hospital in the municipality of Danderyd on the northern side of the city of Stockholm. This area is favourable for a HR project between the interested parties as their respective networks, i.e. the WW tunnel and the DH net, close to overlap there. The case study treated the following perspective questions;
Heat resource What is the heat recovery potential in the sewage tunnel at the specific site over the year? In regards to heating power (MW) and heat amount (MWh). What are the heat losses in the system and what potential energy savings is thereby possible through extracting heat upstream? How does upstream heat recovery compare to downstream heat recovery from treated WW in terms of amount of heat recovered over the year? What happens to temperatures and heat recovery potential if; o Extensive heat recovery is performed at consumer side? o Supplement water could be avoided in the sewer system to a large extent?
Heat recipient How much heat could be supplied to the DH network under the current conditions by the use of a heat pump solution? If also cooling is considered, how does the heat recovery potential and supplied heat change?
Technical solutions – Alternative ways to go Find suitable technical concepts and layouts for different alternatives. From equipment supplier alternatives find energy provided, general investment costs and environmental performance.
3.1 System description The overall system consists initially of two major parts, the WW system of Käppalaverket (K-verket) where the heat resource exists and the DH net of Norrenergi being the heat recipient. A connection between these systems was performed by designing an energy facility with adequate equipment for transferring heat between the two systems.
3.1.1 The WW system of Käppalaverket K-verket is handling and treating WW from 11 municipalities within the district of Stockholm. This estimates to about 635’000 people equivalents (P.E.), including industries. The WWTP is located on the island of Lidingö and the total length of the tunnel network is 65 km. A 0.1% inclination makes the water fall by gravitational forces along the sewer line and is lifted by pumps 20 m at three positions within the system. The majority of the tunnel network consists of natural rock walls where the tunnels are penetrating the bedrock. The network is a combined SS, meaning it also receives and carries supplement water in terms of ground water, storm water, drainage water and infiltrating surface water.
Yearly variations in influent WW flow rates to the WWTP are between 500-2500 dm3/s, having a temperature range of approximately 8-18°C. Figure 7 shows the annual distribution of influent flow rates and corresponding temperatures to the K-verket WWTP. The amount of supplement water in the system is estimated to around 40% of the total WW but strongly varies over the year and is particularly high during heavy rainfall. This could be observed in more detail in Figure 8, showing the flow rates and temperatures during the wet winter season. It is also indicative from the clear trends that
21 the higher flow rates from heavy rain weather decrease the average temperature of the influent WW to the WWTP.
Figure 7. Annual variation in influent volumetric flow rate and temperature to Käppalaverket WWTP, for the year 2014.
Figure 8.Influent flow rate and temperature during spring 2014.
Regarding the WW flow rate at the site if interest, i.e. Danderyd’s hospital, this is a fraction of the total WW influent flow rate. This amount varies between 50-57% of the total WW flow rate over the year, the highest during July and the lowest during January.
3.1.2 The DH and DC networks of Norrenergi Norrenergi provides DH to over 100’000 people in the municipalities of Solna and Sundbyberg in the Stockholm district and owned is municipally owned. The total stretch of the DH net is about 190 km long and the heat is produced mainly through incineration of different biofuels in Solnaverket and waste heat from treated WW at Bromma WWTP. NE also provides DC to commercial districts such as hospitals, server halls and offices. The total stretch is 35 km and the cold is provided from treated WW in Bromma (after being cooled by the DH net), but also from sea water and cooling machines (Norrenergi AB, 2015). The DC net does not stretch pass the specific site of the case study though. The supply temperature of the DH net varies over the year between 70 and 120°C, depending on the outdoor temperature. A higher supply temperature is needed due to more total heating power demand in the DH net, higher required radiator temperatures in the consumer dwellings, but also due to higher heat losses.
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3.1.3 Pre-requisites for the case study The given requirements for the case study and the possible technical solution to the application, as expressed by KFB and NE, were as follows;
A minimum of 5 MW usable heating power was considered as the limit for the HR project to be interesting in terms of making the heat contribution to the DH net substantial. This was also pre-assessed to be possible at the specific site. It was also established during the project that potential cooling could also be of interest. A desired inlet water temperature to the DH net of 72°C was expressed, in order to provide onto the DH net forward line. It was further established that providing lower inlet temperatures onto the return line would also be acceptable under certain circumstances. A boundary value of 10-12°C as minimum temperature with the influent water to the WWTP. An existing area inside a building of 12x15 m and a height of 9 m is available for placing equipment. Here, high voltage connections are already installed. Both the DH net and the main tunnel is within 100 m range from the specific area.
3.1.4 Case study in relation to existing installations for WWHR from sewer line When comparing factors between the case study situation and the existing installations described in previous chapter, it is found that none of the large scale installations is a perfect match to the case study situation. Hence no precise reference exists today when attempting to construct a feasible HR installation for the case study system. The following notes could be made, comparing the installations to the case study;
Looking at the two installations in Oslo, where climatic conditions are fairly similar to Stockholm, it proves that technically large scale heating and cooling from WW is possible. However, the output WW temperatures from these HR plants are much lower than what could possibly be operated in the case study, as low as 6 °C. The low temperatures operated in Sandvika and Sköyen Vest is possible because the WW treatment requirements are much lower and the nitrogen removal is not of the same focus as in Sweden. The downstream WWTP do operate active sludge treatment but seem to have problems with poor sludge qualities and low nitrogen removal results. Perhaps this could be related to the upstream HR as the outlet temperatures are well below the critical interval for nitrification. Another lesson learned from the two Oslo installations is that direct use of untreated sewage in the heat pump heat exchangers have caused more downtime and higher costs for maintenance than predicted. Also lower income due to poor heat transfer occurred. The installation in Vancouver has a much greater heat resource in terms of flow rates and temperatures in the current sewer than the case study, making direct relations between the situations difficult. The HR project at Borders College in Scotland is currently at only 800 kW, which would rather be considered a medium scale installation. In this case, the effect of potentially decreasing the WWTP influent temperatures by recovering heat upstream was actually considered and measured, as the nitrogen removal level is of high importance here as well. But even though no temperature effect has been detected, it is quite difficult to apply the same conclusion to the conditions of the case study since the heating power is lower as well as the water flow at the site of installation. Also, the supply temperature from the heat pump to the heating system is quite low (50-60°C) compared to the desired 72°C of the case study. Parameters simply don’t match and thus no suitable reference example exists.
As for the situation of Switzerland, regulations for sewage heat extraction have in fact been established and many small scale installations are in place. However, if regarding the limit of exactly 10°C as a set boundary for allowing heat extraction, this implies that either the technology for nitrogen removal is different from the active sludge treatment used in Sweden or that the treatment results are poorer. This since 10°C would be quite risky in relation to the temperature interval for biological nitrogen removal.
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If also making a short comparison to the existing installations were HR is performed using WW that has already been treated in a WWTP, such as described in section 2.4, the following observations can be made;
As seen in the installations, the temperature decrease is much larger than what is possible when using untreated WW, due to the limitation in outlet temperature. The same COP should be possible to accomplish as the temperature levels are almost the same in the case study. Comparing the installed power and total heat production, this is certainly way beyond the possible when using untreated WW, also due to the resource limit. The productions that respective interested party (i.e. KFB and NE) already have using treated WW, which is 9 GWh in Käppala and above 550 GWh in Solnaverket.
3.2 Methodology In order to find answers to the questions related to the case study, a certain flow scheme was followed of which the specific activities are explained below.
System definition When starting up the project, it was a rather time-consuming task to read into, map and understand the very technical area of WW treatment in Sweden but also the specific WW system of KFB, including tunnel system and field data. Defining the system at this stage included looking into and organize field data of flow rates and temperatures on both WW and DH side. Also local WW treatment requirements and WWTP layout were looked into and defined.
Background research With the initial conditions for the case study set, research was carried out for scanning the field and gaining up to date information on the topic, both for the purpose of the analysis and for supplying information to the project providers. Looking into installations already in place today it was found that not many large scale installations exist around the world. This motivated to dig deeper into these installations as it is a rather uncommon concept for finding out information about;
Local conditions for WW treatment, how the concern of temperature decrease of the influent WW was considered. Energetic and physical conditions of the WW, flow rates and temperatures. Technical equipment and performance Boundaries of ownership
Information was gathered through visiting web sites, reading official documents and through personal communication with the few existing HR facilities as well as their respective downstream WWTPs.
A literature review was carried out looking into previous scientific research on local circumstances on WW systems, energetic analyses of sewer systems and attempts of determining HR potential within SSs through modelling. This included browsing of scientific reports and communication with some researchers and their research institutions for finding information that could relate to the case study. Found from this were results regarding heat losses and temperature drop within SSs but also of limitations for HR within the system.
Creation of the models An initial modelling phase was carried out based on the key indicators of interest for finding quantitative results for the questions related to primarily the heat resource side in the case study. At the first modelling stage, limited information was available regarding the WW composition at different locations of the WW system which limited the possibility of modelling the heat resource. At a later
24 stage in the project, such data was revealed which opened up for re-design and expansion of the hydraulic modelling for improved results.
Analysis Analysis of the results was performed parallel to the modelling process as results appeared. Through this working manner a somewhat iterative process was developed with re-considerations and alterations of the model from the analysed results.
Conclusions Conclusions were drawn from the modelling results and comparisons to background information regarding other facilities and concepts for HR. Some early conclusions also called for the need of expanded analyses in some areas, causing an interactive working manner and iterative process here as well.
3.3 Models This section describes the different models that were used in this study. A hydraulic model was created for mapping the current flow and temperature situation in the wastewater system and for assessing the effects that different upstream events cause in the system. A heat pump model was created for analysing what heat and cold could be provided to the DH and DC net. Finally, an expansion of the heat pump model, i.e. a performance model was used to assess the performance of different solutions and equipment from actual suppliers.
3.3.1 Hydraulic model As mentioned, the hydraulic modelling was performed at different stages of the project of which the structure of the final version is presented here. The SS of KFB collects water from 11 different municipalities, which is in total collected from and measured by 25 WW connection points around the SS. Upstream from the respective measuring point, local WW networks exist but are not in the regime of KFB and hence were not modelled here.
In general, all calculations and simulations were performed based on monthly averages, i.e. 12 different values for every parameter over the year. Calculations were performed assuming steady state conditions, i.e. transient behaviour of e.g. tunnel walls were not considered. The continuous data available were for flow rates and share of WW sources at the connection points. As source for flow rates the internal software aCurve was used and for quantities of WW sources a Sweco report (Adrup, et al., 2014) was used. Temperature data was only available for the inlet to the WWTP. At every connection point, the temperature was calculated through
, (1) where is the sewage푇 푊푊 water, temperature= ∗ 푇푆푊 based+ ∗ 푇 on푆 푊 an average outlet water temperature from consumers and is the temperature of the supplementary water. and are the flow shares of 푆푊 respective푇 WW source based on data together summing up to 1 (one). was further calculated 푆 푊 in a similar manner푇 from the shares and temperatures of other supplementary water ( ) based 푆 푊 on local monthly average outdoor temperatures and ground water ( ) 푇based on average temperature. 푂푆 푊 Also the mixture temperatures where the flows from connection points are mixed into 푇the main tunnel are calculated using the mixture formula. 푇퐺푊
The mixture temperature along the main tunnel was calculated all the way down to the influent stage of the WWTP, incorporating flows from connection points along the stretch of the main tunnel. In order to quantitatively determine the heat losses and furthermore the temperature distribution in the SS, the heat from every connection point were initially treated as maintained through its entire travel downstream to the WWTP. A final supposed theoretical mixture temperature could then be compared to actual influent temperature data, yielding a suggested total amount of heat loss on a J/s basis throughout the SS. The heat loss value was then distributed over the entire WW flow and also the
25 entire flow length, finally yielding a heat loss number on a W/m3*m (watt per cubic metre of water and tunnel metre) basis. This allowed calculating heat losses (and corresponding temperature losses) of the specific connection flows in regards to its actual flow rate and flow length, which then provided a simulated temperature distribution throughout the stretch of the main tunnel.
Constructing the model in this way allowed for assessing the downstream effect of upstream HR by manipulating the calculated value at the point of interest, i.e. Danderyd, by using the calculated temperature distribution and heat losses as reference values. This also made it possible to construct different scenarios through alterations of certain parameters, e.g. the amount and share of supplementary water and the disposed temperature from the consumers if extensive HR should be performed through building related applications. As upstream temperature changes are simulated through any scenario, the heat losses were changed accordingly as
, 푐 ,푟 − 푐 , 푤 (2) , 푤 , ∆ = ∆ ∗ (1 − 푐 ,푟 ) where is the temperature loss between two connection points along the main tunnel stretch, is the temperature in °C at the connection point at reference case and is the , suggested∆ new temperature from upstream scenarios. This is based on the simplified assumption that , , 푤 heat transfer changes proportionally to the temperature difference in the heat equation
, ∆ (3)