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FIGURE 1
Schematic of Shearer’s System
Small Flows Quarterly, Fall 2004, Volume 5, Number 4
been a unanimous override of a veto
except that one. That shows how
Congress was thinking at the time.”
During his three-year tenure as the
Secretary of the Army Corps of Engineer’s
advisor, Sheaffer also started a
Department of Defense Environmental
Committee (which still exists) with
representatives from the Army, Navy,
Air Force, and Department of Defense
bases as models of technology.
“As the third year came to an
end, I knew I had to leave or I would
be in Washington forever,” said
Sheaffer. And despite the good intentions
of the Clean Water Act, Sheaffer
saw that Congress could pass the
laws, but could not execute them.
So, he decided that by going to the
private sector he could have more of
an impact on the country’s environmental
problems.
Back to Chicago
Sheaffer returned to Chicago in
1974 and started a private company.
“There were four people when we
started,” said Sheaffer. “Two years
later, we had 76 engineers and lots of
Ph.D.s. Then came the big recession
in the early 1980s. We realized it
would have been good if we had
known something about business.”
But the group persevered and
gradually raised capital to become
Sheaffer International LLC. The LLC
status made the limited liability company
a cross between a corporation
and a partnership, incorporating
more benefits of both worlds.
It was during the late 1970s that
Sheaffer’s earlier ideas about wastewater
treatment became a reality
with the company he had formed. Instead
of filtration plants and sludge
hauling, the Sheaffer System offered
a different option. “We began installing
systems. A number of private
people liked what we were saying.
We would take wastewater, recycle it
all, eliminate sludge, and eliminate
odors,” said Sheaffer.
How the System Works
Sheaffer refers to the system as
basically “a landscape project.” It
consists of two treatment cells of
water and a storage reservoir. The
wastewater is introduced at the bottom
of the first treatment cell, 25 or
more feet deep, called the anaerobic
zone. There, a large portion of the organic
load is broken down into
methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen
sulfide, and water. The process is
called digestion. Unlike conventional
sewage treatment plants, the Sheaffer
system uses it first rather than last.
“The best way to manage sludge
is not to produce it,” Sheaffer said.
An aeration system,
introduced three
feet from the bottom,
delivers a coarse
bubble diffusion of air
that thoroughly mixes and
aerates the top 22 feet of
water.
“The oxygen-rich aerated zone
provides aerobic biological treatment
as well as chemical oxidation of soluble
BOD [biochemical oxygen demand],”
said Sheaffer. “In addition,
odorous gases, such as hydrogen sulfide,
are oxidized into non-odorous
compounds, eliminating nuisance
odors normally associated with wastewater
plants.
“When people go and see a
Sheaffer System, they stand with their
toes next to the water and hyperventilate,
trying to smell the normal
odors associated with sewage. They
say where’s the odor? I say you’ve
got to dive down about 25 feet.
When it goes through 22 feet of
water with high oxygen in it, you’re
not going to smell it at the surface.”
Wastewater is typically processed
in the first cell for 18 days, and it is
then moved from the aerobic top of
cell one to the anaerobic bottom of
cell two, also 25 feet deep, where the
process is repeated for an additional
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