Introducing the Innovative Tracy Renewable Energy (TRE) Process
Revolutionizing water recycling and the management of agricultural by-products, the Tracy Renewable Energy (TRE) process stands as a trailblazing solution. With its cutting-edge SteamBoy Distillation process, TRE boasts the capacity to effectively process a staggering 400,000 gallons of water daily.
Collaborating closely with the City of Tracy, TRE has established a groundbreaking facility dedicated to treating a substantial portion of the city’s pre-treated water. This pivotal partnership focuses on removing harmful salts from the water before its safe discharge into the environment. The result? TRE delivers ultra-pure water, a key resource utilized at the Tracy Wastewater Treatment Plant to responsibly dilute its discharge.
Furthermore, TRE’s scope extends to processing industrial process water transported by trucks, now rendering it usable within the local ecosystem. This transformative approach not only diminishes truck traffic and pollution but also generates pristine, reusable water within the community.
TRE’s commitment to sustainable practices and fostering local water reuse is a testament to its innovative solutions and dedication to environmental responsibility.
TRE: Pioneering Sustainable Energy from Local Biomass
At the heart of the innovative TRE process lies an environmentally conscious approach powered by waste biomass. Operating from its plant in Tracy, TRE harnesses the energy from an unconventional yet abundantly available source: walnut shells.
These walnut shells, considered a waste stream by local shellers, find new purpose within TRE’s highly efficient combustor. Here, they play a crucial role, generating the essential heat required to evaporate contaminated water. Notably, TRE’s solid fuel burner ranks among the nation’s cleanest biomass burners, with its CO2 emissions sourced directly from last year’s atmospheric CO2 absorbed to create walnut shells. This establishes the TRE system as a net CO2 neutral process, embodying a commitment to environmental sustainability.
TRE’s innovative utilization of steam is noteworthy. High-temperature steam drives the SteamBoy system, effectively boiling contaminated water. Subsequently, solids separated from the water are directed to the TRE Ecopod for drying into solids, either for removal or further processing.
The resulting purified steam finds purpose in a large steam tube drier, where TRE efficiently dries various agricultural products like sweet potatoes, pumpkins, grape pumice, tomato pumice, and potatoes. This process yields a high-quality, clean base ideal for various types of premium pet food, showcasing TRE’s commitment to resource maximization and product diversification.
The integration of waste biomass, cutting-edge technology, and sustainable practices positions TRE as an industry leader in renewable energy and resource management.
TRE’s Innovations: Turning Local Biomass into Clean Power and Sustainable Solutions
At the heart of TRE’s cutting-edge facility in Tracy, California lies an 8 MW biomass-powered electric plant, a pivotal component driving innovation in sustainable energy. Fueled by walnut shells, an abundant agricultural waste product from local walnut shellers, this facility boasts a large boiler that efficiently combusts walnut shells to generate steam, powering a turbine generator set.
The electricity generated serves multiple purposes: 3 MW is seamlessly integrated into the local grid managed by Pacific Gas and Electric, contributing to the community’s energy needs. Approximately 1 MW powers both the electric plant and the desalination plant, while the surplus energy charges 20 electric semi-trucks operating across the Central Valley. This local approach not only alleviates strain on regional transmission lines but also significantly enhances local air quality by replacing diesel-powered trucks with electric ones, all charged using renewable energy.
Furthermore, in a groundbreaking partnership with Cummins, TRE is spearheading the development of small-scale gasifiers. These gasifiers will produce biochar, a valuable resource for local farmers when applied to the soil. This innovative process is estimated to sequester an impressive 1,400 tons of CO2 annually. Notably, the scalability potential of this initiative is substantial, holding promise for a significant impact on carbon reduction efforts.
TRE’s commitment to sustainability and innovation is exemplified by its adept utilization of waste biomass, specifically walnut and pistachio shells. Processing an impressive 5.5 tons per hour, this transformative approach yields clean water, clean power, high end pet food while at the same time sequestering CO2.
“In addition to treating wastewater, [TRE’s] system saves charges for fertilizer, waste disposal, fuel, and power, and generating power onsite reduces transmission and distribution losses.”
“Tracy Renewable Energy aims to become the city’s premiere green business…”
“Game Changer of the Year” Award in the category of Innovation in Energy and Agriculture and earned the recognition specifically for its most recent initiative.
“For its pioneering approach, [TRE] is the winner of POWER’s 2012 Marmaduke Award for excellence in plant problem-solving.”
“Its such a simple idea, it seems like its something that people would have done a long time ago but we have sort of forgotten that really we get so much energy from the sun and it’s just trapped everywhere around us.”
History and Ambitions
Frank Schubert first had the idea for the SteamBoy, the core technology that makes TRE what it is today, when he was constructing Mars habitats here on Earth. He was considering how astronauts might source clean water on the red planet when he realized the scalable potential of distillation and how, when thoroughly considered, the system could be highly efficient on top of being highly effective. He drew up plans for an industrial machine capable of the task; people told him it wouldn’t work, they said his machine wouldn’t last 6 months and yet here it is still running 15 years later!
The economic model of the SteamBoy is just as innovative and important as the technology that drives it. At Tracy Renewable Energy we make sure that no waste goes to waste, every part of the process is thoroughly considered to make sure that efficient use is made of all the energy put into the system. On their own an individual wastewater distiller, a dehydration plant, and a material recovery plant would be challenging to make business sense, however all them working together is what makes TRE not just viable but vibrant!
This is Frank’s 6th time building a SteamBoy facility and it’s the largest one yet! We’re perfecting the process of building and running the plant here in Tracy so that wherever there is a wastewater problem and available biomass nearby, we’ll be there to provide quality service and incredible efficiency.
“When you look at it holistically the [SteamBoy] system works all the way around. It gets rid of wastewater streams, solid waste streams – our olive pits – it generates electricity, it reduces our use of fossil fuels. It’s truly amazing the impact it’s going to have on our business operations and how we fit in with the community and with how we fit in with the environment.”
Ben Hall, Director of Environmental Programs at Musco Family Olive Company
“We have been working with TRE for a little less than a year now and I have found Krystal and Duane to be excellent folks to work with. If you have any need for disposing of non-hazardous liquid waste streams this is the place to start. The profile process and sample review are very straight forward. The process focuses on resource recovery and recycling. I would highly recommend a site visit.”
Craig Joseph, General Manager at RES Environmental Services
“We shouldn’t think of the brine as a waste stream, but should think of it as a resource stream. We can make marketable materials and products out of that stream. [Frank] Schubert’s system is the kind of out-of-the-box thinking we need to see.”
Karl Longley, Chair of Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board
“There are so many different things going on with green energy, and most of them are so esoteric that, as a scientist reading about them in Physics Today, I can’t understand what they’re talking about. What [TRE] is doing is putting together real world tools in real world environments and solving today’s problems today.”
Carol Stoker, Staff Planetary Scientist at NASA Ames Research Center
“The Tracy community is fortunate to have Frank Schubert and his team from Tracy Renewable Energy select our hometown as a place to build on our sustainable values and offer our residents clean water, power, and fresher air while providing economic opportunities for our local manufacturing and agriculture businesses.”
Maria Valenzuela, CEO of Tracy Chamber of Commerce
“The main focus is to help us reach goals. We can have a healthier community, or state. A healthier planet. It is to me fascinating with all of the different elements that he’s working with here. We’re so blessed to have this facility in Tracy. We don’t showcase enough of all of the great commitments that are local to help our environment.”
Dotty Nygard, CEO of Tracy Earth Project
“It’s not nice waking up and not knowing how to get out of a water problem. Now that we’ve installed the [SteamBoy] system, we’ve got people who were looking at us as a negative seeing us as someone who’s pioneering green technology that can be used up and down the valley.”
Felix Musco, COO of Musco Family Olive Company
“Treating wastewater to reduce [Total Dissolved Solids] will soon become big business, particularly within California and regions where frack water is being discharged. [TRE] appears to have one of the few proven treatment systems that works.”
Bob Bibb, CEO of Bibb Engineers
“[TRE] is using distillation to get the purest water you can get. But they’re adding value along the process by recovering a big portion of the energy through the steam engines, and then concentrating the salts in a way that can be managed.”
Jose Faria, Supervising Engineer at California Department of Water Resources
“Working with TRE has been a thrilling experience. The leadership team, technicians, and electricians are forward-thinking and always willing to try something new and different to develop and deploy projects at their Tracy, CA facility. As an Electrical Engineer for these projects, the can-do attitude of the TRE team fuels my passion and creative thinking process to solve problems and move projects forward faster, better, stronger than ever before.”
Abdur Rehman, Professional Engineer at Electrical Power Systems, Inc.
“This could be the silver bullet to solve the Central Valley’s salt problem.”
Gary M. Carlton, Chair of the Board of Directors at Kennedy/Jenks
“I cannot stress enough that frankly, were it not for Frank Schubert’s ideas and willingness to have us here, we would be years behind where we are now… Frank always looks to the biosphere, he looks to the health of the biosphere with every move he makes.”
Steve McDaniels, CEO of Reactive Surfaces
Come clean with your waste!