REA Resource Recovery Systems, LLC
FOG, in general, is a pain point we can effectively alleviate with our FOG Management system. We also optimize resource recovery with our FOG-To-Biodiesel system. By converting waste FOG to biodiesel, our customers can successfully address environmental-stewardship and decarbonization mandates that have become central to public policy and create a new revenue stream from what is currently a cost. Developed under the auspices of the University of Connecticut over the past 14 years, we partner with developers and operators to bring our technology to wastewater treatment plants worldwide as a service or as an installed asset. Billions of gallons of FOG are discharged into collection systems annually, causing large-scale problems such as pipe blockages that lead to sanitary sewer overflows. FOG is also costly to manage, treat and dispose of, and has a negative impact on the environment due to standard disposal procedures such as landfilling and incineration.
Company details
Find locations served, office locations
- Business Type:
- Manufacturer
- Industry Type:
- Water Treatment
- Market Focus:
- Globally (various continents)
This company also provides solutions for other industrial applications.
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About us
Our system diverts and captures FOG in the collection system, upstream from chronically troubled areas, driving down O&M costs attributed to FOG.
Rethinking the way FOG is treated at WWTPs also has the potential to change WWTPs from net consumers of energy to energy neutral — or even to net producers of energy.
With our FOG-To-Biodiesel system, we can convert brown grease onsite, without interference to the operations of a plant, in an automated and continuous-flow process, into B100 biodiesel. Such production can be sold or utilized to generate power. Municipalities can also utilize it to fuel their fleets and reduce respective carbon emissions by up to 74%.
History
Phase I (2007 – 2010)
Research & Development
A series of increasingly large Biofuels Conferences are organized by REA co-founder, Dr. Richard Parnas, in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. These meetings are held at the University of Connecticut to learn the industry needs and problems and guide the R&D efforts of the Dr. Parnas Lab. A novel transesterification reactor is designed by Parnas and his colleagues at UCONN to efficiently convert triglycerides to biodiesel (view video). UCONN is awarded three US patents on the reactor and associated equipment from 2009 to 2013. REA holds the exclusive and perpetual license to this intellectual property.
Process Patented & Mobile Reactor Built
A detailed mathematical model of the patented reactor is developed to explain why it works the way it does. A $600,000 grant is secured from the State of Connecticut to open a Biodiesel Fuel Quality Testing laboratory at UCONN in support of this groundbreaking industry development. A $1.2 million grant from the US Department of Energy is also secured to support biofuels research at UCONN. Preliminary experimentation with low-quality feedstock is carried out to develop free fatty acid esterification parameters. Advanced solid catalysts are developed for esterification that can be further developed into an improved esterification reactor.
Demonstration Model Built & Installed
In June 2018, REA installs a prototype production system at the New Haven East Shore WPCA. This 14-month demonstration successfully converts brown grease waste into several hundred gallons of heating-oil grade biodiesel. Further research and development enables the team to improve system design to ultimately produce premium-grade ASTM B-100 biodiesel. The plant operates continuously to demonstrate it can function at the WPCA without interfering in the facility’s operations.
Full-scale Commercialization
REA and UCONN develop a vacuum distillation system to bring biodiesel into compliance with ASTM B-100 requirements. REA secures its first contract to build a FOG Receiving Facility and a FOG-To-Biodiesel system at the Danbury Wastewater Treatment Plant in Danbury, CT.