Investigating the Feasibility of Constructing a Regional Biosolids & Biogas Facility in Kingston

Biosolids are produced from wastewater sludge, generated by two major wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the City of Kingston. One of these WWTPs requires expansion of its biosolids treatment processes to service future development. In 2017, Utilities Kingston recognized an opportunity to address the treatment capacity need while positively contributing to the City’s goal of reducing community and corporate greenhouse gas emissions. A Master Plan for Enhanced Biosolids Management and Biogas Utilization was completed in 2020 with a recommendation to “Develop an integrated biosolids and source separated organics processing facility”. The facility would manage biosolids from the City’s WWTPs and other sources of organic materials, including wastes from the City’s residential green bin program, with the primary goal of optimizing the production of biogas and treated organic residuals for beneficial reuse. The focus of this presentation will be to describe the planning work that has followed the Master Plan project over the last two years, including the development of a conceptual design for the facility, an assessment of its net environmental benefit potential and other project highlights. The planning work has been led by Utilities Kingston, with significant input from the City of Kingston.
 Lauren Scanlan is a professional engineer and project manager with a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering and M.A.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Queen’s University. Lauren spent a decade working at an engineering consulting firm, where she had the opportunity to work with a variety of municipal clients, including Utilities Kingston, on their water and wastewater conveyance and treatment infrastructure. Her work spanned all phases of projects, from planning through to design and construction. She began working at Utilities Kingston in 2021 as a Utilities Engineer and is now a Project Advisor in the company’s sustainability and climate action group. In this role, she is responsible for facilitating the organization’s enterprise risk management programs, advancing opportunities for research and innovation, and providing project management services for climate action initiatives, including the Biosolids and Biogas Facility project.

Utilities Kingston is a multi-utility provider in the City of Kingston, combining water, wastewater, gas and electrical services and a broadband networking business in one company under the leadership of a single CEO. Of relevance to the presentation, Utilities Kingston manages, operates, and maintains City-owned infrastructure to collect and treat wastewater within Kingston’s urban boundary and provide natural gas services to customers in Central Kingston.