Rebuilding Blue River’s Biosolids Process Around Robust Operating Plant

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Replacing a decades-old biosolids process at Kansas City’s largest wastewater treatment facility required design-build contractor Goodwin Brothers Construction to fit a new thermal hydrolysis system into an existing plant while keeping the facility running throughout construction.

The $140 million project replaced the plant’s aging incineration process with thermal hydrolysis, a process that works like a large-scale pressure cooker for biosolids. High heat and pressure sterilize the material and break down organic matter, increasing biogas production, expanding digester capacity and producing Class A biosolids that can be reused as agricultural fertilizer. The completed system supports a circular economy model built around resource recovery rather than waste disposal. Blue River treats approximately 75 million gallons of wastewater per day and processes nearly 98 percent of Kansas City’s wastewater solids.

The construction challenge began with the existing footprint. Crews demolished a four-story, 21,000-square-foot, solids-processing building and a 200-foot-tall incinerator stack, recycling approximately 98 percent of the demolition material. To avoid building an entirely new foundation, the team assessed the existing foundation and deep foundation systems and installed supplemental helical piles to add load-carrying capacity. The approach consolidated three structures into one, kept the new facility within the existing footprint and saved the city an estimated $13 million.

Equipment for the new facility includes thermal hydrolysis units, silos, conveyors, centrifuges, odor-control systems, sidestream treatment and electrical infrastructure. THP components began arriving in late 2022 as crews built the new structure and installed mechanical, electrical and process piping systems. Crews also upgraded existing digesters and holding tanks while other portions of the new system went in.

Keeping Blue River operating required a phased construction plan, allowing equipment to remain in service. Because the new facility occupies the center of the existing plant, crews temporarily relocated electrical, water, gas and fiber utilities running through the construction area, then reinstalled and commissioned each system in a planned sequence that supported ongoing plant operations. Much of the work involved confined-space entry and live process tie-ins under strict lockout/tagout coordination.

The project used building information modeling to coordinate construction, and the model was transferred to owner KC Water (City of Kansas City) for asset management. The thermal hydrolysis system is the first CAMBI system in the Midwest and one of only nine installed in the U.S. A CAMBI commissioning team from Sweden spent several months on site overseeing startup, operator training and system integration, work the client says helped establish a new benchmark for advanced biosolids treatment in the region.

Construction spanned more than five years – finishing in May 2026 – and involved approximately 1,200 union craft workers and more than 500,000 on-site work hours. Goodwin Brothers exceeded project goals for female and minority workforce participation. Goodwin Brothers has applied for Envision Silver sustainability certification.

Other project partners included designer Black & Veatch, owner’s advisor Carollo Engineers/Jacobs, mechanical contractor Cerris and electrical contractors RS Electric and WITEC. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers served as regulatory partners.

Rebuilding Blue River’s Biosolids Process Around Robust Operating Plant

Comments / 1