Energy Resources

SERRF Operations

CONTACT SERRF:

JANE HERMSEN, BUREAU MANAGER

SERRF BUREAU TELEPHONE NUMBER: (562) 570-7840

SERRF, which began commercial operation in July 1988, is a publicly owned solid waste management facility that uses mass burn technology to reduce the volume of solid waste by about 90% while recovering electrical energy.

Residential and commercial solid waste is combusted in high-temperature boilers to produce steam which in turn is used to run the turbine-generator producing electricity. The electricity is used to operate the facility with the remainder sold back to the grid. SERRF processes an average of 1,290 tons of municipal solid waste each day and generates up to 36 megawatts of electricity.

Plainly put, SERRF generates enough power each year to supply 35,000 residential homes with electricity and has reduced the volume of solid waste entering a landfill by over four million cubic yards. That's equivalent to trash the length and width of a football field piled three times the height of the Empire State Building.

Since the facility began operation, SERRF has processed approximately 15 million tons of solid waste in an environmentally safe and responsible manner. Using state-of-the-art pollution control technology, SERRF has been able to greatly reduce the number of pollutants that naturally form during combustion of refuse.

SERRF is equipped with The Best Available Control Technology (BACT). Air emissions which result from burning waste are controlled by several measures. SERRF uses ammonia to control nitrogen oxides, lime slurry to control sulfur oxides and acid gases, and a multi-chamber fabric filter baghouse for removal of particulate matter. When the flue gas is finally ready to exit the baghouse, it is discharged through a 265 foot tri-flue stack where emissions are monitored by a combination of continuous monitors and periodic stack sampling.

In addition to air emissions, groundwater contamination from ash is an environmental concern which SERRF has addressed. Boiler ash, a by-product of incineration, is controlled by the Wes-PHix ash immobilization process. This process adds phosphates and portland cements to the ash thereby reducing the solubility of heavy metals found in ash. Due to this process and the "back-end" recycling of metals, SERRF ash is being used at the local landfill as road base material.

For more information on site tonnage, special requests, and tipping fees please visit lacsd.org