NewFields, an environmental and construction company based in Georgia, has removed solids from the emergency lagoon and repaired its synthetic liner.
The emergency lagoon is used to contain pesticide-laden stillage, a byproduct of ethanol production, as well stormwater from twin digester tanks.
One of the two tanks burst during the February 2021 cold snap, releasing an estimated 4 million gallons of pesticide-contaminated slurry downstream, prompting emergency action from the state.
Tom Buell, the division administrator for monitoring, remediation and monitoring, stated that the relined emergency lake will keep the liquids from the digesters safe for the winter months and will be closely monitored to ensure it doesn’t exceed its capacity.
Buell explained that the solids of the emergency lagoon were added onto the wet cake stack in the northwest corner, Buell stated. There, material from three different wet cake heaps was consolidated.
Over the next few days, Posi-Shell will be applied to the wet cake pile. It is a mineral mortar that NewFields claims can protect the pile from being destroyed.
