Agenda Item Wording:
title
Award a contract to supply, deliver, and replace siloxane removal media - Authorize the City Manager to award an annual sole source contract to Unison Solutions to supply, deliver, and replace granular media used for the removal of siloxane compounds created from bio-gas produced at the City’s Water Reclamation Facility (WRF), not to exceed $245,000 per year, with an option to renew annually up to four 1-year terms, totaling no more than $1,225,000 over the life of the contract; and appropriate an additional $125,000 for FY24/25 and $125,000 for FY 25/26 from the WRF Fund.
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Deadline for Action: 11/18/2024
Submitting Department: Public Works
Contact Name and Phone Number:
Ben Litwack, Public Works Manager, (559)713-4671, ben.litwack@visalia.city <mailto:ben.litwack@visalia.city>
Nick Bartsch, Public Works Director, (559)713-4052, nick.bartsch@visalia.city
Department Recommendation:
Staff recommends that Council authorize the City Manager to award an annual sole source contract to Unison Solutions to supply, deliver, and replace granular media used for the removal of siloxane compounds created from bio-gas produced at the City’s Water Reclamation Facility (WRF), not to exceed $245,000 per year, with an option to renew annually up to four 1-year terms, totaling no more than $1,225,000 over the life of the contract; and appropriate an additional $125,000 for FY24/25 and $125,000 for FY 25/26 from the WRF Fund (431).
Background Discussion:
The Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) upgrades in 2017 originally included the installation of a Renewable Power Generation System (RPGS) to generate power. The plans were initially approved by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. Unfortunately, a combination of regulatory hurdles, delays with contractors, and delays in coordination efforts with the local electrical utility have deferred commissioning of the RPGS for several years. As a result, most of the 5-year contracts established during the construction of the RPGS have since expired and, now that the start-up of the system is nearing, need to be re-established.
Anaerobic digestion is utilized as a part of the treatment process at the WRF. A by-product of anaerobic digestion is renewable bio-gas. Bio-gas can be used as a fuel source as it has a fuel content of about 65% of that of natural gas. Bio-gas at the WRF will be used to fuel the RPGS, which produces electricity that will be used at the WRF to reduce the amount of power that must be purchased from the local electrical provider.
Bio-gas naturally contains various impurities, including siloxane compounds. Siloxanes are ubiquitous and are generally considered harmless to human health and to the environment. However, at high temperatures, such as those found in internal combustion engines, siloxanes are converted to silicon dioxide, or sand. The sand will deposit within the engine and eventually cause reduced efficiency, increased operating costs, and failure.
In order to protect the RPGS, the siloxane concentration in the bio-gas must be reduced to less than 100 parts per billion (ppb). Unison Solutions is the manufacturer of the siloxane removal system utilized at the WRF and is the sole provider of the removal media. During project design, laboratory tests were conducted on the WRF’s bio-gas to determine the media that would be most effective for the City. As a result, the system was designed and sized based on the use of the specific siloxane removal media produced by Unison Solutions. The use of any other siloxane removal media would require extensive testing and redesigning of the current bio-gas treatment system.
Fiscal Impact:
Unison’s quoted price is $110,387.80 for two vessels. The media will need to be replaced in all four vessels annually, requiring two changeouts per year for a total of $220,775.60. Staff are requesting $245,000 to cover incidental variances in freight costs and anticipated inflation costs.
Annually, $265,000 is budgeted within Capital Improvement Project CP0440 (Anaerobic Digester Gas Cleaning) from the WRF Fund (431) to cover these types of expenses. Due to the significant increase in costs over these last several years, we will need to appropriate additional WRF Funds in the amount of $125,000 for fiscal year 24/25 and $125,000 for fiscal year 25/26. This will bring the total CIP Budget to $390,000 annually.
The funds under this project will be utilized for three contracts, all related to anaerobic digester gas treatment. In addition to this contract, Council has approved a contract with Schlumberger Purification Solutions for supplying hydrogen sulfide removal media and staff is currently in the process of securing a contract with Carbon Activated, Inc. to perform the changeout and replacement service for the hydrogen sulfide media.
Prior Council Action: 05/06/2019 - Council granted authorization to award an annual sole source contract to Unison Solutions with the option to renew up to four consecutive one-year terms.
Other: N/A
Alternatives: N/A
Recommended Motion (and Alternative Motions if expected):
recommendation
I move to authorize the City Manager to award an annual sole source contract to Unison Solutions to supply, deliver, and replace granular media used for the removal of siloxane compounds created from bio-gas produced at the City’s Water Reclamation Facility (WRF), not to exceed $245,000 per year, with an option to renew annually up to four 1-year terms, totaling no more than $1,225,000 over the life of the contract; and appropriate an additional $125,000 for FY24/25 and $125,000 for FY 25/26 from the WRF Fund.
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Environmental Assessment Status: N/A
CEQA Review: N/A
Attachments:
Levine Act
PM-424.2007.1 Visalia_Siloxane Media-Change Out Services_2024
PM-424.2007.2_Visalia w sole source info