April 20, 2022
Industry Insight Webinar

Modern-Day Alchemy

SMWD’s Gate 5 System
and the plan to turn
wastewater sludge into energy

April 20, 2022 – 12:30 pm

This Presentation will be made ONLY
as an Online ZOOM Webinar

Presented by:
Don Bunts
Deputy General Manager,

Santa Margarita Water District

Hosted by OCWA

Sponsored by

AECOM,
Cla-Val,
DN Tanks and
John Robinson Consulting, Inc.

We’re Proud to Recognize
Our Sponsors
for the April 2022 Webinar:

Click on the logos above
to learn more about our April 2022 Sponsors.

As always, our
Online ZOOM Webinar
is offered FREE
to our Members. 

Non-Members Still Pay
Only $10.00

About Our Presentation

Medieval alchemists dreamt of turning lead into gold. Visionaries today have equally profitable dreams, only now the transmutation is real, and it’s turning wastewater sludge into renewable electricity.

It’s been called “a magic trick for poop.” But it has promise to be so much more.

Into one end of the machine, sludge and other organic waste is funneled, while from the other end comes distilled water, a small amount of ash, and — electricity. And best of all, there’s no methane by-product, the bane of traditional sewage and sludge treatment.

As futuristic as it might seem, this remarkable idea has attracted grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission, the latter to the tune of $1.6 million. The money is helping to fund a demonstration project at south Orange County’s Santa Margarita Water District. Partners include Gate 5 Energy, Stanford University’s Codiga Resource Recovery Center, and Micromedia Filtration.

And prospective clients are already lined up, anxiously waiting to see how this demonstration project works out.

Known as the Gate 5 System, the pilot plant is scheduled to begin operating in March 2023.

And should it meet expectations, it will create more energy than it needs to run. Plans call for the demonstration project to turn 5 wet tons of sewage into 1 dry ton of biofuel daily. That dry ton of biofuel contains as much latent energy as coal, is not a fossil fuel, and can create between 500 kilowatts and 1 megawatt of renewable energy. A single megawatt can power between 400 and 1,000 homes.

But more than just creating energy, the Gate 5 system could solve a range of environmental problems sewage treatment plants presently face. Current restrictions have vastly reduced the amount of organic waste that can be dumped into landfills, both to relieve the stress on capacity and to curtail methane emissions. As the volume of ash created in Gate 5 is less than 6-percent of the amount of the wet sludge it was produced from, is inert, virus and vector free, and contains no methane, disposal of the waste is relatively simple.

Plan to join us, April 20, to learn more about this innovative, modern-day alchemy. It’s a presentation guaranteed to give you an eye-opening glimpse at the future. Best of all, no magic wand required.

OCWA Members with Reservations:  FREE

Non-Members with Reservations:  $10.00

The Meeting Link will be emailed
when participants Register.

Cancellations received AFTER Tuesday, April 19,
CANNOT be refunded.

About Our Speaker

Don Bunts
Deputy General Manager,
Santa Margarita Water District

Don has over 35 years of experience in the environmental engineering field, including the master planning, design and construction of multimillion-dollar municipal water and wastewater facilities. In addition, Don has successfully completed a number of alternative delivery projects that have resulted in substantial time and financial savings to the owners.

Prior to beginning public work Don had clients that include city and county governments, water districts and private entities throughout California, Arizona and Texas.

Before he came to work for the Santa Margarita Water District, Don was one of the founders of a consulting engineering firm. Between 1996 and when he left in 2012, the firm became recognized leaders in providing innovative solutions to project challenges in the water and wastewater field throughout the southwest, including Arizona and Texas, and had the distinction of being involved with the implementation of a significant number of recycled water retrofit projects in the southern California area. Don has also been involved with a number of alternative energy projects using biosolids, biomass and waste gas as the fuel source.

In his years with SMWD, Don was the District’s Chief Engineer before his promotion to Deputy General Manager.

He is a graduate of Cal State Polytechnic University at Pomona, where he earned Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Civil/Environmental Engineering. He has served on the board of directors of the California Water Environment Association and the American Water Works Association.