Biowaste Treatment Systems—An Innovative Canadian Approach

Timothy Ma, Public Works and Government Services, Canada (PWGSC)

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) Fallowfield Laboratory in Ottawa, Canada has recently undergone an upgrade of the biowaste treatment system due to health and safety concerns. This presentation will first look at different types of systems available for the CFIA application, and then focus on the system selected—including discussion on the design features of biowaste holding tanks, the transfer system, the direct steam injection cook tanks, the blending tanks, and the control system.

The presentation will highlight the innovative items of the system, including:

  • The agitation system for the holding tanks (with the use of Computational Fluid Dynamic Modeling during design, to model the flow patterns inside the tanks).
  • The use of butterfly valves in lieu of ball valves.
  • The use of grey water at the blending tank to cool the cooked effluent.
  • The flexibility in the system for isolating holding tanks, transfer pumps, etc. in case of component failures.

This presentation will also look back at the project, evaluate the accomplishments and the lessons learned.

Biography:

Timothy Ma, P.E., has over 29 years of private and public sector experience in design, project management, operations and maintenance in diverse types of building mechanical systems, including BSL 3 containment laboratories. Since joining PWGSC as project manager 10 years ago, Mr. Ma has successfully managed many government laboratory renovation projects. In the last five years, he has focused on the operations and maintenance aspects of laboratories and has extensive experience carrying out engineering investigations of various operations and maintenance problems. He is the regional champion for the PWGSC National Laboratory Knowledge Network and the technical team leader for a new overseas BSL 3 laboratory project. He is also the senior engineer of Mechanical, Maintenance and Laboratory Engineering in the Real Property Branch of PWGSC.

Mr. Ma has a Masters degree in mechanical engineering and is a registered Professional Engineer in the province of Ontario.