Middlebury Resource Recovery Center (MRRC)

Middlebury, Vermont | PurposeEnergy

PurposeEnergy, a nationwide renewable energy producer, sought to develop an anaerobic digester and food process treatment facility near Middlebury’s wastewater treatment facility (WWTF) in the heart of the town’s industrial district. The project accomplishes two significant goals: reduce loading from food-process waste to the municipal WWTF and maximize the reuse of waste products through a 1-MW anaerobic digester, generating solids to be spread as fertilizer on local farm fields. D&K provided civil, environmental, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, process piping, structural, BIM modeling, and geotechnical engineering design to construct the membrane bioreactor and digester facility on a 0.9-acre site. The project navigated significant challenges, including designing and constructing a high-output facility on a constrained site with poor soils and high groundwater issues.

Markets:

Project Elements

• 80,000-GPD WWTF
• Anerobic digester designed to produce 1 MW
• Treatment of brewery, cidery, cheese, distilling, and kombucha tea process waste

Awards

Grand Award for Engineering Excellence, ACEC-VT

Sustainable Elements

The project is designed to offset carbon emissions by 2,000 metric tons annually.