Energy From Onions Project Receives Design Award

Last week, the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) awarded Omaha, NE-based HDR Engineering, Inc. its Grand Conceptor Award for the Gills Onions Advanced Energy Recovery System Project in Oxnard, CA.

The Gills Onions project was one of eight projects considered for ACEC’s top award. Other contestants included the new $1.3 billion Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX, and the Sea-to-Sky Highway project in BC, Canada.

HDR was selected by Gills Onions, the largest fresh-cut onion processor in the nation, to work on this $9.5 million facility that converts onion waste to power. In the facility, juice is extracted from onion peels and treated in a high-rate anaerobic reactor to produce methane-rich biogas. The biogas is then treated and used to power two fuel cells that provide electricity for the processing plant. As a result of this project, the owner has achieved increased energy independence, elimination of a waste stream, reduced operational cost, and a smaller carbon footprint. The combination of the energy produced, cost savings generated, and grant funding achieved by the project will result in a full payback in less than six years.

Source: ACEC press release