Hill Canyon Treatment Plant FOG Facility Improvements

Ardurra (formerly MKN) delivered planning, detailed design, and construction-phase services for a new Fats, Oils, and Grease (FOG) receiving facility at the City of Thousand Oaks' Hill Canyon Treatment Plant. Completed in March 2025, the facility supports the City's renewable energy goals by maximizing biogas production through the plant's existing digestion system.

Key Highlights:

• Installed three 15,000-gallon FRP storage tanks, automated screening equipment, and duty/standby progressive cavity digester feed pumps

• Integrated a waste heat recovery loop using existing cogeneration hot water to preheat FOG, improving pumpability and increasing biogas yield without new electrical or gas loads

• Designed a passive carbon scrubber odor control system with SCADA-integrated instrumentation and controls

• Reduced truck offloading times from 30 minutes to as few as 10 minutes through process improvements

• Identified geotechnical constraints and decades-old underground utilities during predesign, enabling foundation modifications that avoided costly pile installation

The facility significantly increased biogas production, cut operational costs, and advanced the City's renewable energy goals, all achieved with zero lost-time safety incidents during construction.