PXV NEO Visited by State Senator and Representative

Muth and Friel Otten tour nation's first HTC wastewater facility.

PHOENIXVILLE, PA – DEC. 20, 2022

On Tuesday, December 20, PXVNEO was visited by several dignitaries– local lawmakers who were briefed on the revolutionary project in Phoenixville, PA.

As the first hydrothermal carbonization wastewater treatment plant in all of North America, PXVNEO is certain to become more newsworthy as it nears project completion. Almost all construction and installation is complete and in January the system will undergo rigorous testing before coming online.

State Senator Katie Muth and State Representative Danielle Friel Otten toured PXVNEO with Borough representatives including Borough Manager Jean Krack, Public Works Director, Brian Watson and Council President Jon Ewald. Also in attendance were Matt Mullin, Waster Water Superintendent and Dan Spracklin whose Spring City company, SoMax, first introduced the technology to the Borough of Phoenixville and has been managing project progress. State Senator Muth was also joined by her Chief of Staff, Nikki Whitlock.

Most recently, the impressive PXVNEO site saw the addition of a catwalk, a massive amount of insulation, final electrical and final plumbing.

“We are in the final stretch of installation prior to commissioning,” said Ewald. “We expect to complete all construction by the end of the month which, even with unexpected delays, will be less than a year from the start date from the first equipment delivery.”

The January commissioning of PXVNEO will introduce water only into the system for testing that will last at least three weeks prior to a wastewater transition.

”We are in the final stretch of installation prior to commissioning…We expect to complete all construction by the end of the month which, even with unexpected delays, will be less than a year from the start date from the first equipment delivery.

“The goal is to complete controls and communication checks between HTC main controls and all ancillary components January 9 – 13,” said Spracklin. “That includes on-site visits from many of the project’s largest manufacturing partners.”

During that first work week of 2023 JDV, manufacturers of PXVNEO’s hopper and conveyor, will be on site for commissioning of the hopper. The second week, January 16 – 20, PXVNEO will welcome ASTEC (manufacturers of the project’s thermal oil heater), Schwing Bioset (manufacturers of the piston pump), PECO (PXVNEO’s natural gas supplier) and Bucher (the manufacturer of the dewatering press).

“All of the project’s manufacturers will be on site to perform functional checks and start-up for individual components.,” adds Spracklin. “The piston pump feeds the entire system and will need to be functioning for the thermal oil heater to fire up and heat the thermal oil that provides ancillary heat to the HTC system. These units need to be ready to go for PECO to turn the natural gas on. While the HTC system is filled with water and pressurized for leak checks, the Bucher technician will work through functional checks and do a dry commissioning.”

If everything goes relatively smoothly during the full week of component testing then, the PXVNEO team will be able to introduce a thin sludge (~3% TS) into the system and convert it to hydrochar as a final test during the third week, January 23 – 27.

After January, the system will cool down and shut off so that the remaining construction items can be completed. These include pipe supports, piping insulation, valving and flange insulation jackets, some controls components, and preparation for solids management.

The goal is to complete the final construction steps and fire back up in March. Once the system is back up, the feedstock sludge will be thickened using the centrifuge, and the overall system will be optimized for high solids throughput and dewatering.