Howard County // Columbia, MD

Client Needs:

Howard County wanted to start a composting facility using a two-phase approach. Phase I would be a small pilot that their staff could use to practice composting with their own municipally collected feedstocks at their existing landfill facility.  Phase II would be a facility sized at 60,000 tpy and based on the Phase I findings. Howard County was looking for a process engineering and equipment provider that:

 

• Understood that odor management is of critical concern
• Would provide science based technical assistance for solving process problems as they arise
• Had a track record of working efficiently with civil engineers and general contractors
• Supplied high quality equipment that would last without replacement for decades

 

ECS Solution:

After an RFP process that included a rigorous due-diligence ECS was selected to provide a six-zone, negatively aerated and fabric covered pilot system for primary composting yard and food wastes. During the Phase I testing Howard County decided to abandon the fabric covering the ASP piles and used an organic cover layer in its place. The process results improved and the Phase II facility was designed around a negative only aeration system with a biofilter.

 

ECS was selected and awarded the Phase II contract via a second RFP process and worked with Howard County’s civil engineer to create detailed facility designs that would go out for bid to general contractors. The Phase II design included 10 primary and secondary composting zones in a Bunker Wall configuration, with negative aeration and a Low Friction Trench aeration floor to a biofilter that uses a High Pressure Sparger aeration floor.

Capacity (tpy)	Phase I Pilot - 8,000 Phase II – 50,000 tpy
Feedstocks	Food Waste, Yard Waste
ECS Technologies Employed	Phase I Pilot - Fabric Covered Aerated Static Pile (CASP) System, CompTroller Automated Control & Monitoring System, Negative Aeration System Pipe-on-Grade Aeration Floor, Biofilter   Phase II – Negative Aeration CASP, Bunker Wall Configuration, Low Friction Trench Aeration Floor, Biofilter with High Pressure Sparger Floor
Start-Up Year	2012,  Phase I Pilot Systems 2018,  Phase II
Location	Columbia, MD

 

Visit the Howard County Composting Facility online and get more info about the Pilot Compost Facility at Alpha Ridge.