Media Contact: Gaelan Brown [email protected]
In 2017, Grimm’s Fuel’s outlook was just that - Grimm. With over a thousand odor complaints a year, the facility was faced with a choice; Either shutdown composting operations or get rid of the odor issue and rebuild community trust.
As composting pioneers and committed members of the community, the choice was obvious, It was time to modernize their operation and win back the support of their now very proximal neighbors.
“We’re really proud that we’ve been good neighbors with our composting facility over the past five years,” said Jake Grimm, fourth generation owner of the business. “We did have some issues back before our facility upgrade was made, but as a family business it’s very important to treat our neighbors like family.”
As the company name implies, Grimm’s Fuel is not just a commercial composting facility. The company has been a leading provider of heating oil and firewood to the Portland Oregon region for decades.
In the 1990’s the company began commercially composting yard waste and manure from the region, using a static pile composting method. They used heavy equipment to periodically tumble the material to provide oxygen for the aerobic microbes that convert organic waste into compost.
“We tried experimenting with an air slab in the 90s,” said Jake Grimm. “ But with the technology of the time and the wet climate, large static piles proved to be more effective for our volume.”
As the facility grew so did regional development, a bad combination for compost odors. They were also facing challenges with compost production efficiency and product consistency.
In 2018 Grimm’s contracted with Seattle-based Green Mountain Technologies (GMT) to Design an aerated static pile (ASP) composting system, which uses an automatic aeration system connected to ductwork under the composting pad to automatically optimize the oxygen and temperature levels in the material, without the need for frequent mechanical tumbling. The first phase of ASP infrastructure was installed in 2019, and then expanded to Phase 2 in 2020.
GMT designed a 16-zone, WebMACS controlled, Covered Aerated Static Pile (cASP) composting system equipped with reversing aeration and biofiltration to optimize odor control.
Current annual composting volumes are close to 50,000 tons per year, making this one of the largest commercial composting facilities in Oregon, although the facility’s could handle up to 100,000 tons per year.
The ASP composting system keeps the composting microbes happy, which accelerates the composting process and eliminates the buildup of the “anaerobic” microbes.
“To my knowledge in the last 6 years we’ve only had one legitimate odor complaint. A few of the complaints were erroneous, like one from a woman 8 miles away, which couldn’t have been about us. Our only serious odor issue during this time was due to a stuck temperature probe, which made the zone get too hot. As soon as we fixed that probe the aeration system adjusted itself and the odors went away.”
Anaerobic conditions are a primary cause of odor issues and methane emissions in general. The ASP composting system not only keeps the material in aerobic oxygen-rich conditions, it also speeds up the composting process while reducing material handling costs because there is less need to mechanically tumble the material.
“Obviously somethin had to change,” Grimm said. “In 2018 Green Mountain Technologies came in and analyzed our system and helped us design an ASP system and a much better overall approach.”
"Everyone I talk to is impressed with the changes we’ve made over the years. My grandfather was kind of a pioneer in composting back in the late 80s and 90s,” said Grimm. “He played around with some air floors back then but ended up doing static pile composting with excavators for turning. At that time we were out in the middle of nowhere and it was a pretty good solution. It worked but it was stinky. Odors became a real problem with the volume that we grew to after 2010. We also had fire issues on a regular basis, we’d have to flip the whole pile to put the fires out. We got really good at dealing with fires"
Grimm’s installed their own aeration system in 2019 with design assistance from GMT, but the aeration floor had some operational challenges. In 2020 GMT installed their patented “sparger” aeration floor system with advanced automated control systems, which brought dramatic improvements to the facility’s efficiency.
“Our first ASP design that we installed on our own was with aeration pipes set at grade and holes drilled into the exposed top side of the pipes,” explained Grimm. “Now that we have our GMT sparger aeration system the process works way better. The aeration holes never need to be cleaned out."
Jake says the materials they receive on site have significant odors as they arrive, but the odors go away as soon as the material is put into an aeration process.
"Our feedstocks coming in have way more odor issues than our in-process materials. The aeration system really solved our odor issues, even with neighbors directly across the street,” said Grimm. “It’s night and day compared to how things were before GMT’s aeration system. Our neighbors are surprised there’s no odors. Yeah it smells like dirt and wood chips and grass but not composting odors.”
Grimm’s manages most of their own maintenance on the overall ASP composting system, with occasional support from GMT. The company also has 6 blower trucks for field application of compost, several semis for commercial delivery of compost, and a fleet of dump trucks for home delivery. They build their own dump truck boxes, blower boxes, trommel screens, and conveyors.
"We’re a do-it-yourself type of operation in general, but I don’t think we’d be able to operate at the scale we do today without the support we get from GMT,” said Grimm. “As far as the aeration system goes, GMT’s technology and support has been great. My wife Haley takes care of the software and programming, Jasmine Kamdar at GMT has been a huge help for her. It’s been really awesome."
Grimm’s Fuel sells a variety of finished compost products including garden mulch, several compost blends, lawn and turf blends, potting mix, blended soil, 50/50 aged fir/compost mix, bark dust, hemlock and fir mulch.
About Grimm's Fuel:Grimm’s Fuel, Tualatin, Oregon-based company, is a 4th generation family business that started originally as a heating fuel supplier. The company has successfully diversified beyond fuel supply services into large-scale compost production while becoming known for solving odor issues with advanced composting technology. The company processes yard waste and other organic waste streams into valuable compost, serving the greater Portland area, and are a notable case study for successful environmental management in Oregon.
About Green Mountain Technologies: Green Mountain Technologies has been designing and building innovative composting solutions since 1992. Our growing global client-base includes large commercial composting facilities, small scale community organizations, and institutions of all types. We're proud to give back 10% of our profits to non profit community and environmental organizations. Learn more at www.compostingtechnology.com
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