Lystek and Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District honored for wastewater innovation

Lystek International (Lystek) and the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District (FSSD) have been honored with the Excellence in Innovation and Resilience Award by the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA). The award was presented at the CASA Annual Conference on August 1, 2024, in Monterey, California, USA, recognizing their joint efforts in advancing environmental sustainability and public health protection.

CASA’s statewide award program celebrates outstanding achievements within the clean water community, particularly those that advance renewable resources and safeguard the environment. The Innovation and Resilience category acknowledges projects that apply cutting-edge technology or develop new approaches within the wastewater sector. This includes innovative methods for collection, treatment, recycling of wastewater and biosolids, and renewable energy production. Lystek and FSSD’s recognized project exemplifies these criteria by addressing critical environmental challenges through a collaborative and resource-efficient approach.

At the core of this achievement is Lystek’s Thermal Hydrolysis Process (THP), a technology that converts biosolids and organic residuals into a high-solids liquid, multi-use product. The D3 project leverages this expertise by diverting anaerobic digestate directly into the Lystek system, significantly reducing the nitrogen content in FSSD’s effluent. This collaboration not only enhances the quality of water discharged into the San Francisco Bay but also repurposes the nutrients for agricultural use as a Class A quality liquid fertilizer, LysteGro. This product is widely used in sustainable farming practices across Northern California.

Since 2016, FSSD and Lystek have maintained a successful Public-Private Partnership (P3) focused on managing biosolids for land application. The D3 project stands out for its use of sustainable practices, leveraging existing infrastructure and ensuring resilience through digestate transfer redundancy. Notably, the capital costs for achieving these nutrient reductions are significantly lower compared to the expenses typically associated with advanced nutrient removal technologies and new infrastructure.

Both Jordan Damerel, General Manager of FSSD, and Jim Dunbar, General Manager of Lystek, emphasized the success of their partnership, noting how the collaboration between public and private sectors has led to significant reductions in nutrient content in plant effluent while simultaneously supporting agricultural sustainability.

As a division of the Tomlinson Group of Companies, Lystek is North America’s leading provider of sustainable biosolids and organics management solutions. With over 60 public and private customers, Lystek continues to demonstrate its commitment to environmental stewardship through innovative projects like the D3 initiative.