The City of Frederick today, announced a public alert, regarding flames seen at the Wastewater Treatment Plant located at 100 Treatment Plant Road, in Frederick.
CONTACT: Susan S. Harding, Public Information Officer, 301-600-1385
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, May 15, 2014
Necessary Flames at Wastewater Treatment Plant
Frederick, MD -- The City of Frederick today, announced a public alert, regarding flames seen at the Wastewater Treatment Plant located at 100 Treatment Plant Road, in Frederick. Those traveling on Monocacy Boulevard at the intersection of Gas House Pike will easily see large flames coming from a pipe at the plant. Citizens are encouraged NOT to contact 911 as the flames are a new, necessary function in the operation of the plant. The recent sight of the flames in this area caused many concerned residents to call 911, in some cases, dispatching local fire departments unnecessarily.
“Residents should not be concerned,” said Stona Cosner, Superintendent of the City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant. “We want to make the public aware of a new process at the plant which produces Methane Gas. The gas burns from a discharge pipe, which creates the flame. This flame is a controlled and normal function of the process.”
The residual solids produced in the treatment of the City’s Wastewater have been disposed of in landfills for five years; this new process involves stabilizing the solids into Biosolids that are beneficially used on farms as fertilizer. This is a huge cost savings for the citizens of Frederick. For the last two years, the Wastewater Treatment Plant’s Anaerobic Digesters have been under rehabilitation. On February 25th we were able to begin using one of the digesters. By April 18th the process was working well enough that we were producing Methane Gas which is vented and burned until the Combined Heat and Power Generator can be started. The second digester was placed into service on May 6th. On May 19th we will start another process that will burn the Methane Gas as fuel for a Combined Heat and Power Generator allowing the plant to generate electricity, which will lower the cost to run the facility. As soon as the Combined Heat and Power Generator is running, the flames will only be seen from the pipe on occasions when the generator is off.
For additional information, contact Stona Cosner, Superintendent of the City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant: 301-600-1036.
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