Grinder Reduces Downtime for Waste-to-Energy Facility

JWC’s Monster Industrial division is helping BioTown Ag optimize the efficiency of its anaerobic food waste and manure digester. The farm uses the digester to convert waste into energy, fertilizer and soil.

Downtime due to equipment failure can be costly and time-intensive. Smaller solids can pass through the pumps without causing clogs, but if larger pieces of debris, like water bottles, wood or rock are left untreated, the whole system comes to a halt. This is exactly what was happening at BioTown.

Clogs within BioTown’s chopper pumps were occurring every few days, which required a complete shutdown of the digester. After researching available solutions, BioTown purchased a 3-HYDRO-IX from JWC’s Monster Industrial division and installed it into the pipeline that flows into the feedstock mixing tank.

This dual-shafted grinder applies several tons of cutting force at peak loads, breaking down tough solids or rags and turning them into smaller particles that can flow easily through pumps and pipes.

A central control panel monitors the unit and protects it against unexpected items that might cause damage. When the controller senses an amperage spike, the cutters stop, reverse and try grinding again. The unit automatically attempts the forward and reverse sequence three times to clear the solids.

Using low-speed, high-torque grinding to break down the troublesome solids has been found to be more effective than high-speed cutting blades in dealing with the wide variety of solids in waste streams, including stringy rags, tough stones and other inorganic materials.

Originally developed for wastewater treatment, dual-shafted grinders can be used in applications such as manure, food waste and biofuels processing. They are used to protect a wide variety of pumps, including centrifugal, chopper, rotary lobe and progressive cavity pumps.

Since the installation, the company’s maintenance crew hasn’t had to manually unclog the pumps, and the farm has purchased a second Monster grinder to keep up with increased capacity.