A municipality owns and operates two Water Reclamation Facilities (WRFs) which provide sewer services for the county. The un-stabilized biosolids generated from these two WRFs currently are dewatered and hauled to a landfill for disposal. The municipality would like to construct a waste to energy facility that will take the dewatered biosolids from the two WRFs, mix it with other high strength waste from sources within the municipality and from surrounding areas to create digester gas to generate either electricity or compressed natural gas (CNG).

Citizens Energy Group owns and operates two advanced wastewater treatment (AWT) plants, the Belmont and Southport AWT Plants which serve Marion County and the City of Greenwood. Primary sludge and secondary sludge are a product of wastewater primary and secondary treatment processes which then need to be dewatered and processed. Currently, the sludge is processed at the Belmont AWT plant where it is dewatered and then either incinerated or landfilled.

City of West Lafayette

Sustainable design seeks to reduce negative impacts on the environment, and the health and comfort of building occupants, thereby improving building performance. The basic objectives of sustainability are to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources, minimize waste, and create healthy, productive environments.

The City of West Lafayette is involved in two major building projects. The first is the creation of an indoor recreation and aquatics center on the city’s north end. The second project is the renovation of the existing community center, the Morton Center, which is currently housing West Lafayette’s city office as well.

Cook Research Incorporated (CRI) is a Cook Medical company located in West Lafayette, IN which facilitates the design, testing, and regulatory approval of medical devices. CRI has several research and testing laboratories, cafeteria, shipping department, and office spaces, all of which produce their own waste streams.

Evonik Corporation Tippecanoe Laboratories is a Contract Manufacturing Organization (CMO) for Pharmaceutical, intermediates, research, and animal health companies. Waste streams from the manufacturing process are classified as primary (high solvent/low-water content) or secondary (high water/low solvent) waste for incineration or aqueous waste suitable for wastewater treatment.

The focus of this project will be the waste streams generated from the manufacturing processes as secondary waste or aqueous waste and the Incineration Services blowdown.

Last year, Marion Utilities worked with an EEE senior design team to review options in regard to managing municipal solid waste (MSW) generated by Marion Utilities. Marion Utilities was analyzing alternatives to increase the capacity of MSW to create syngas or electricity from a waste-to-energy system. General Motors’ Marion facility is interested in partnering with Marion Utilities as a purchaser of the syngas.

There is a global consensus that anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be reduced to mitigate climate change. Climate change in the Midwest is projected to bring an increased frequency of days with temperatures exceeding 95˚F and alteration to historical precipitation patterns. These changes increase risks to human health and economic prosperity.

For more than 55 years, the Indiana Chapter of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has been working to conserve the lands and waters of Indiana. We have helped to protect over 100,000 acres of land, from the prairies of Kankakee Sands to the forests of Brown County Hills. We are working with the agricultural community to promote soil health practices to protect the Wabash River and its tributaries so we can lessen the impacts of our state on hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC) is a regional council of local governments serving the citizens of Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties in Northwest Indiana. NIRPC provides a forum that enables the citizens of Northwest Indiana to address regional issues relating to transportation, the environment and community, and economic development.

In 1985, Wabash National began manufacturing truck trailers in Lafayette, Indiana. They are one of the leading American manufacturers of semi-trailers. Wabash National Corporation also manufactures other transportation-related equipment, including tank trailers, flatbed trailers, and truck bodies.

Whirlpool Corporation is the world’s largest manufacturer of home appliances. One category of appliances that are produced by Whirlpool is cooktops, where three different technologies are typically used for cooking. These three technologies, electric radiant, electric induction, and gas, all accomplish the goal of cooking via different heat transfer media. Historically, electric radiant and gas technologies are the most common cooktop varieties seen in consumers’ homes. Some regions, like Europe, are more likely to utilize induction, but it is still not a majority of the market.

The Wabash River Enhancement Corporation (WREC) is a non-profit organization that raises money to invest in “opportunities to improve health, recreation, education, economic development, and environmental management” along the 31 miles of the river corridor in Tippecanoe County. Through strong relationships with the City of Lafayette, the City of West Lafayette, Purdue University and Tippecanoe County, WREC leads and engages with the community in the implementation of projects that improve environmental quality and economic development.