WC146 JanFeb 2026 - Magazine - Page 37
Sewage biosolids are produced
when municipal wastewater treatment facilities treat wastewater
from residential, industrial and
commercial sources into treated
water and leftover solids.
PROSSER: In terms of chemical contaminants, it just
depends. There are certain processes that can degrade
some microplastics. Polyester fibers don’t really do well
under that high temperature, so it can reduce those
in the product. And certain PFAS molecules can be
broken down at elevated heat levels. But others are just
more stable. It won’t contribute to the breakdown of
metals, but pharmaceuticals, personal care products,
that sort of stuff… majority of that will be broken
down. That elevated heat is going to contribute to the
degradation or dissipation of some contaminants.
And our process doesn’t add anything—so when
we’re going through the dryers at Ashbridges Bay and
the product is flowing through, we basically just evaporate water and volatiles that are coming off it. We don’t
add anything. It’s really just the heating process.
Government of Ontario
Do you recapture the dehydrated water?
VUJICIC: The water that we pull off when we’re drying
ends up being condensed. So it is recaptured and
circled back to the front of the wastewater treatment
plant where it will go through the process again. It is
being captured, recirculated and treated again.
Is there guidance available to farmers on safe storage
practices?
VUJICIC: We have developed best practices in terms of
how to prevent reheating, which can be an issue. There
are a number of things that we recommend people do
to store it safely and reliably, depending on how long
they’re going to keep it. We can put it in long grain
bags… and long term storage can be done in large quantities because it’s airtight and watertight…. We’re very
careful about people that are taking larger quantities to
make sure they understand how to store it, how it might
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
react under certain conditions, and make sure that they
can deal with it. Because ultimately, this product still
does have a lot of energy. If it gets wet, it can tend to
reheat and cause issues. So managing it is critical.
For municipalities considering shifting from landfilling or incineration to resource recovery, what’s the
first step?
PROSSER: Look at classic contaminants. Do you have
good source control? If you have elevated metals or
PFAS, you need to address that upstream before land
application or pelletization.
Vujicic: There are smaller communities around the
province—some of them might have to take a bit of a
regional approach, where between three or four townships, there’s enough quantity to do something.
Looking ahead, how do you see biosolids management
evolving in Canada?
MARTO: Right now the pellets are a high commodity. As
the stigma gets removed and people see the benefits of
utilizing this in land application processes, I think it’s
just going to increase even more than what it is today.
VUJICIC: I think landfilling biosolids is a thing of the
past. Incineration might remain in specific cases… but
people would like to get away from that because of the
decarbonization movement. We’ve shown that we can
create a product that closes that circular economy loop
and gets the nutrients back in the soil. It’s a feel-good
story from multiple perspectives.
PROSSER: I think as we get more data, we’re able to
provide a clearer story. That story is moving towards
how beneficial it is.
To watch a replay of the entire discussion, visit:
https://www.crowdcast.io/c/biosolids-to-bene昀椀ts
WATER C AN ADA • JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2026
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