Improving the Removal of Biosolids From the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant By Implementing a Submarine Pipeline

• Moe Joudeh
• Nicholas Firrantello
• Gerardo Medrano-Martinez
• Weiyu Lang

This project intends to improve the process of how biosolids are dewatered and stored during the end stages of the wastewater treatment by introducing a pipeline that carries the “organic waste” to its end location.There are various methods in which a pipeline could be installed but the goal to explore the most efficient and cost effective. The organic by-product of the wastewater treatment process, called biosolids, is a renewable resource that is currently being transported to farmland areas to be used as fertilizer with the use of semi trucks, but a more efficient method of transportation based on the volume waste would be to pump the solids via pipeline because of the significant between the plant and the end locations. Currently, the biosolids remain in the storage areas at the Stickney Water Reclamation plant in Cicero and also La Grange until enough accumulates to transport to another location. The Stickney Water Reclamation Plant is the largest wastewater treatment plant in the world where millions of gallons of wastewater inflow everyday which is then treated and produces the biosolids byproduct. The focus of this project is to design a submarine pipeline that would run from Stickney along the bottom of the Des Plaines River to bring the sludge to a western area where agriculture is plentiful. Upon implementing this idea, it will revolutionize the way liquid waste solids are managed. If funds could be allocated towards researching and designing a permanent waste pipeline, then the plant would save money over a long term span on storage and transportation of the solids. The Stickney WWTP will not need as much lagoon space to store the biosolids, will significantly relinquish odors in the urban environment and also rural areas will benefit from a sludge pipeline through enriching the soils with nutrients.