With the agreement with the City of Santa Rosa, Lystek can increase the production of its biosolids-based fertiliser product LysteGro
Image: Lystek to manage biosolids in Californian city. (Credit: Unsplash/Etienne Girardet.)
Lystek International, a Canadian waste treatment company, has secured a multi-year agreement from the City of Santa Rosa, California to manage the city’s annual biosolids production at the Fairfield Organics Materials Recovery Centre (OMRC).
Under the terms of the agreement, the Board of Public Utilities had awarded a contract to Lystek worth more than $6m and continues customer relationship between Santa Rosa and Lystek.
The City of Santa Rosa has been in search of long-term options for biosolids management for beneficial use and the city’s goal was to diversify biosolids management practices due to pending state-wide regulations to diversify organics from landfills and other less beneficial alternatives.
Lystek’s fertiliser product is in high demand across Northern California farmers
Lystek offered an end-use management programme to process the biosolids into a nutrient-rich fertiliser product. The company will sell the fertiliser under the brand name LysteGro, which is claimed to be in high demand in the Northern California area by farmers and ranchers.
The additional volume of biosolids from the city will allow the company to extend its fertiliser programme to be available for local agricultural users.
The agreement between the City of Santa Rosa and Lystek follows the opening of the Lystek Fairfield OMRC in 2016. Since then, OMRC has received and processed more than 100,000 tons of biosolids.
OMRC uses low-pressure Thermal Hydrolysis Process (LystekTHP) to convert biosolids and other organic materials into the LysteGro fertiliser.
Within the first year of operation, the fertiliser product was licensed by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) for use as a bulk fertilizer and has been accepted widely as a high-nutrient product.
Local growers are also claimed to value the product for being an alternative to chemical and synthetic-based fertiliser.
OMRC Fairfield general manager Jim Dunbar said: “This agreement will allow the City of Santa Rosa to have long-term certainty that its biosolids will be safely managed and properly used as a beneficial agricultural fertiliser in the region.
“The city was one of the first communities to work with Lystek to bring our Fairfield facility on-line in 2016, and this new contract is a validation that we have fulfilled our commitments in the past.”
For Lystek, the agreement adds growth to its production since opening OMRC and will expand its ability in diverting thousands of tons of biosolids from and landfills annually to produce highly valued fertiliser product.