Biosolids-to-Fertilizer | Better Yield | A Cleaner World

The Problem:  The nation’s 16,000 municipal wastewater treatment plants generate about 175,000 tons of biosolids every day, 80 percent of which is water. These sludges are then hauled miles – often several hundred miles – to landfills or applied to open land or forests.  This practice is expensive, but more importantly, it generates significant greenhouse gasses (methane, NOx, and CO2) and often results in excess nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) polluting groundwater and surface water. Because of nutrient-caused “dead zones” in rivers, lakes, and oceans nationwide, California has banned this practice, Florida is following suit, and several other states are considering similar actions. 

Our Solution:  American Infrastructure Holdings (AIH) has developed four biosolids-to-fertilizer projects with US Wastewater utilities that will produce 200,000 tons/year of enhanced-efficiency, slow-release fertilizer (EEF) for application in the turf and ornamental, fiber, and non-food crop sectors.   By drying and blending biosolids with organic and other ingredients using a new technology, our designer fertilizers release only as much nutrients as crops can use when applied and for months thereafter.  Slow-release, metered delivery of nutrients ensures maximum plant uptake and greatly increases crop yield, with practically no water pollution.  Compared to hauling and land disposing/applying wet sludge, our fertilizers significantly reduce releases of greenhouse gasses, odors from wet biosolids, and truck traffic. 

Multiple Projects Open to Investment:  Demand for sustainable biosolids solutions is growing rapidly as municipal leaders transition from managers of waste to managers of valuable resources. Our proprietary partnership business model provides utilities a 100% nutrient reuse solution in place of land disposal of sewage sludge.  These partnerships concentrate biosolids-based EEF manufacturing in select centers near the nation’s largest regions of agricultural production in California, Florida, Texas, the Mid-West, and Mid-Atlantic states. AIH is developing four such projects and the manufacturing network of blending facilities to service them with a total investment value of more than $200M. Some of our projects are in Qualified Opportunity Zones, which enable investors to eliminate capital gains on reinvested funds and avoid income taxes on earnings.

Four projects: open for immediate investment:

Mid-West -- $40 million proprietary integrated biosolids-to-fertilizer drying, blending, and bagging facility PPP with an estimated IRR in the mid 30% range and invested capital repayment within three years.

Mid Atlantic I -- $35 million proprietary biosolids drying facility PPP with an estimated IRR in the mid-teens and capital repayment within five years.

Mid Atlantic II -- $74 million biosolids drying facility PPP with an estimated IRR in the low 30% range and capital repayment within three years.

SouthWest -- $25-$70 million proprietary integrated biosolids-EEF fertilizer project with zero carbon emissions, with a second project roughly three times this size.

AIH uses conventional mechanical and thermal technology plus a customized mixing process to convert wet biosolids into a commercially valuable, nutrient rich granule suitable for virtually any type of granulated fertilizer application.  Our technology suppliers are industry leaders in their sectors with hundreds of installations in the US.

The North American water market is worth some $66 billion a year in CAPEX and $67 billion in OPEX with distinct opportunities in municipal, industrial, and agricultural segments, offering returns that meet all risk profiles.  Yet, private equity has struggled in these markets.  Most private equity firms oversimplify market dynamics and look in the wrong places. These highly fragmented markets require nuanced investment strategies structured around specific win-win targets of opportunity, executed by “trusted advisors” and “implementation partners” of these diverse asset owners and operators.  The entry, aggregation, and exit options are different across segments, but can be structured to create synergies and pull-through opportunities to increase returns.  AIH’s partners have spent decades serving the North American water industry.  With several projects under way plus proprietary deal flow, we are positioned to effectively deploy significant capital in the US as partners with municipal utilities and watertech companies.