Lystek Fairfield OMRC Awarded New Contract from City of Palo Alto


Attention: Environmental, agricultural, municipal, wastewater, recycling & waste management, reporters/editors

FAIRFIELD, Calif., March 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lystek is pleased to announce that it was recently awarded a new contract by the City of Palo Alto, California. This General Services Contract is for the advanced treatment of biosolids and organic residuals from the City’s Regional Water Quality Control Plant (RWQCP). The contract was approved by the Palo Alto City Council during their regular meeting on February 12, 2024

The new five-year contract will take effect on April 1, 2024, when the current agreement is set to expire. During the previous contract, the Lystek Fairfield Organic Material Recovery Center (OMRC) received approximately one-third of the annual biosolids production from the RWQCP. Lystek THP® produces multi-use end products enabling Palo Alto to achieve its goals of organics diversion and 100% beneficial use.

Jim Dunbar, Lystek’s General Manager - Fairfield OMRC, commented, “Lystek is proud to be a trusted provider of quality service to Palo Alto. The Lystek THP technology offers unique benefits to the City to ensure that environmental stewardship and compliance are held to the highest standard. California is promoting greater use of organic wastes for resource recovery and this new contract furthers Palo Alto and Lystek’s leading partnership in the field.”

The City of Palo Alto had historically used incineration for its biosolids disposal, but this practice was discontinued in 2019. Lystek received one of the first contracts for offsite resource recovery of the City’s biosolids in 2019 through a competitive bid process.

During the initial term of the contract, Palo Alto delivered over 38,000 tons of organic-rich biosolids to the Fairfield OMRC. By using the Lystek THP technology, 100% of the biosolids material was beneficially used for resource recovery. Added benefits from this Palo Alto-Lystek partnership was a measurable reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Over the preceding five-years, the total net carbon displaced by utilizing Lystek THP equates to over 10,000 metric tons CO2e. This is enough to offset the GHG emissions from almost 2,000 homes.

In addition to the standard terms of the new General Services Contract, Lystek is able to offer a set of enhanced services. These include a revenue-sharing component based on the value received by the beneficial uses of the end products. Lystek also prepares an annual calculation of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction credited to Palo Alto by using Lystek as its service provider.

The Lystek Fairfield OMRC is located in the San Francisco Bay Area and its proximity to Palo Alto offers a significant reduction in transportation miles and costs when compared to remote processing facilities. These economic sharing and environmental benefits are unique to Lystek’s offering to biosolids generators in the Northern California region.

About Lystek

Lystek International, a division of the Tomlinson Group of Companies, is North America's leading provider of Thermal Hydrolysis solutions for the sustainable management of biosolids and organics, servicing over 60 public and private customers. Lystek THP® converts biosolids and non-hazardous organic residuals into a high-solids liquid, multi-use product for full cycle resource recovery. These products and processes include the LysteMize® process for optimizing anaerobic digestion and biogas production; LysteCarb®, an alternative carbon source for BNR systems; and, LysteGro®, a nutrient-rich biosolids fertilizer. LysteGro is a high solids (13-16% total solids), Class A quality liquid biosolids fertilizer that is easily stored, transported, and applied using conventional liquid handling equipment and is regulated as a fertilizer product in Canada and the state of California. Lystek offers turnkey solutions including technology supply, design-build and installation services, regional processing solutions, and comprehensive LysteGro product management.

For more information, please contact: Lystek Head Office – 888-501-6508