Waste Not of Yamhill County applauds Texas-based Waste Management Inc. (WMI) for its decision to add plasma arc technology to Oregon's solid waste disposal options. WMI is partnering with Bend's Inentec to develop the promising technology at its Columbia Ridge disposal site at Arlington in Gilliam County. WMI and InEnTec hope to have the process up and running at full speed within five years or less.
Last year, Yamhill County Commissioners held hearings to decide whether to allow Riverbend Landfill, located on the South Yamhill River, to expand. During those hearings, Waste Not asked County Commissioners to consider bringing the Inentec plasma arc or other environmentally and economically friendly technology to Yamhill County. The CEO of InEnTec confirmed to Waste Not that the company was economically and environmentally prepared to offer Yamhill County its high temperature gasification system at the company's expense. At that time, WMI--which owns the company that runs Riverbend--resisted this suggestion, claiming the technology was unproven and expensive and would take too long to implement. After Waste Not revealed its conversations with InEnTec, WMI invested in the company.
Waste Not is pleased to see that since partnering with InEnTec, WMI has changed its position on the viability of high temperature gasification. We hope this may signal a change in plans for Yamhill County.
The plasma arc process utilizes extremely high temperatures to produce both syngas, which can be converted to fuel or electricity, and a glassy substance that locks toxins in and can be used in construction. The process creates three times as much energy as it uses, without polluting emissions.
Unlike a smelly, noisy landfill topped with heavy equipment, shiny plastic, and scavenging birds, the plasma arc process can be housed inside an attractive, enclosed facility. Visitors to the area won't even know it's there.
Plasma arc technology also means high-paying jobs. InEnTec has announced that the Arlington project will add 16 permanent "green" jobs, some of which may pay six figures. Waste must be pre-sorted, creating yet more jobs and another source of income from material recovery.
Plasma arc gasification offers a welcome alternative to landfills. Landfills are the nation's largest emitter of methane, a devastating greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Even systems that turn landfill gas into electricity--like the one ready to go online at Riverbend--leak tons of methane into the atmosphere. Expanding landfills for the purpose of collecting methane to burn to generate electricity cannot be justified economically or environmentally. Burning the garbage directly, as in a low-oxygen plasma arc gasification system, generates far more energy and sequesters all the methane that forms when garbage decomposes.
Landfills pose other environmental and economic problems. At depositories like Riverbend Landfill where garbage is not pre-sorted, toxic materials may be dumped. Because landfill liners will eventually leak, these wastes pose unknown challenges to future generations. Recyclables also make their way into landfills like Riverbend, using capacity and requiring ever larger landfills that encroach on waterways and farmland.
Waste Not is encouraged that WMI is taking essential steps that could phase out landfills in the near future. Now Waste Not asks WMI to take InEnTec up on its original offer to bring plasma arc gasification technology to Riverbend instead of expanding the landfill into the South Yamhill River floodplain.
Waste Not Of Yamhill County
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
County double-crossed
Last week, Waste Management Inc. announced plans for a small-scale plasma arc gasification facility for processing municipal solid waste to be in operation late this year at their Columbia Ridge site (Arlington). This demonstrates a radical change in position on this technology for both Waste Management and the two Yamhill County commissioners, Lewis and George. After a presentation by Waste Management on this new facility, both commissioners were quoted as saying they “liked” what they heard.
Last March at the Riverbend rezoning hearing, I represented Waste Not of Yamhill County and presented detailed evidence of plasma arc gasification as a viable alternative to landfilling that deserved an opportunity to be explored for Yamhill County. Specifically, I noted that St. Lucie County, Fla., after three years of intensive research, had approved and will build a plasma arc plant to handle their daily incoming waste stream and remediate their existing landfill within 18 years. Were the commissioners listening then? It appears not.
At that same March hearing, Waste Management, which surely was completely aware of this technology’s potential, chose to strongly criticize it as an option now and for the foreseeable future. Now, they are acting as if it is some newly discovered idea of their own and touting its benefits. Adding further insult, they have chosen to implement their “proof of concept” plant at Arlington, not in Yamhill County. This cost Yamhill County those newly created jobs that facility requires for both construction and operation.
The good news is now that Waste Management Inc. has endorsed plasma arc gasification, it is very difficult for anyone to pretend that this technology is not a viable alternative that deserves further consideration. It’s just sad it’s not happening in Yamhill County.
Susan Meredith
McMinnville
Last March at the Riverbend rezoning hearing, I represented Waste Not of Yamhill County and presented detailed evidence of plasma arc gasification as a viable alternative to landfilling that deserved an opportunity to be explored for Yamhill County. Specifically, I noted that St. Lucie County, Fla., after three years of intensive research, had approved and will build a plasma arc plant to handle their daily incoming waste stream and remediate their existing landfill within 18 years. Were the commissioners listening then? It appears not.
At that same March hearing, Waste Management, which surely was completely aware of this technology’s potential, chose to strongly criticize it as an option now and for the foreseeable future. Now, they are acting as if it is some newly discovered idea of their own and touting its benefits. Adding further insult, they have chosen to implement their “proof of concept” plant at Arlington, not in Yamhill County. This cost Yamhill County those newly created jobs that facility requires for both construction and operation.
The good news is now that Waste Management Inc. has endorsed plasma arc gasification, it is very difficult for anyone to pretend that this technology is not a viable alternative that deserves further consideration. It’s just sad it’s not happening in Yamhill County.
Susan Meredith
McMinnville
Friday, March 5, 2010
The Day The Landfill Died
S4 Energy Solutions Announces Plasma Gasification Project
HOUSTON and GILLIAM COUNTY, Ore. S4 Energy Solutions LLC, a joint venture by Waste Management, Inc. and InEnTec LLC, today announced plans to develop a plasma gasification facility at Waste Management's Columbia Ridge Landfill in Arlington, Oregon. The planned facility will be a comprehensive and integrated S4 designed solution that will convert municipal solid waste into clean fuels and renewable energy.
Construction is expected to begin in the early summer, with startup scheduled by year end. The project is expected to create up to 28 jobs during the construction phase, with up to 16 permanent green jobs when the facility is operational.
"Our goal is to extract as much value as possible from waste and this project will help us recover valuable resources to generate clean fuels, renewable energy and other beneficial products," said Dean Kattler, area vice president for Waste Management Pacific Northwest. "This project strengthens our focus on renewable energy and new technologies that use waste as a resource. We are committed to growing our business in this region in innovative ways, bringing green jobs to communities where we already have operations and community relationships."
With the S4 system, waste materials are prepared and fed into a first phase gasification chamber that operates at temperatures of approximately 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. After the first phase, the waste materials flow into a second closed chamber where they are superheated to temperatures between 10,000 and 20,000 degrees Fahrenheit using an electricity-conducting gas called plasma. The intense heat of the second stage plasma gasifier rearranges the molecular structure of the waste, transforming organic (carbon-based) materials into an ultra-clean, synthesis gas (syngas). The clean syngas may then be converted into transportation fuels such as ethanol and diesel, or industrial products like hydrogen and methanol. The syngas could also be used as a substitute for natural gas for heating or electricity generation. In a secondary stage of the PEM(TM) process, inorganic (non-carbon-based) materials are transformed into environmentally inert products.
The new plasma gasification facility will complement the landfill site's other renewable energy production. Waste Management began generating renewable electricity at the site in January 2010 with the startup of a new landfill gas-to-energy (LFGTE) facility. The LFGTE process captures methane gas generated as waste decomposes in the landfill and then uses the gas to generate 6 megawatts (MW) of electricity. The electricity is powering 5,000 homes in Seattle through an agreement with Seattle City Light. Wind power is also generated at the landfill, with 67 windmills producing more than 100 MW of renewable energy for PacifiCorp.
"Plasma gasification has garnered a lot of attention recently, as we look for new ways to sustainably manage waste while recovering valuable resources," said Jeff Surma, president and chief executive officer of S4 Energy Solutions. "We believe the project will demonstrate commercial viability of the new S4 integrated system, so that we can implement this technology at many other locations for a wide variety of applications."
S4 Energy Solutions was formed in May 2009 as a joint venture between Waste Management and InEnTec. The partnership combines Waste Management's industry leadership and expertise in the collection and management of a wide range of waste streams with InEnTec's PEM(TM) technology.
Together with Waste Management's other renewable energy initiatives, the joint venture has moved Waste Management toward meeting two of its sustainability goals, doubling its renewable energy production to a energy equivalent of powering two million homes by 2020, and investing in emerging technologies for managing waste. It is also complementary to Waste Management's comprehensive waste services in the areas of recycling, landfill, and waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy capabilities.
HOUSTON and GILLIAM COUNTY, Ore. S4 Energy Solutions LLC, a joint venture by Waste Management, Inc. and InEnTec LLC, today announced plans to develop a plasma gasification facility at Waste Management's Columbia Ridge Landfill in Arlington, Oregon. The planned facility will be a comprehensive and integrated S4 designed solution that will convert municipal solid waste into clean fuels and renewable energy.
Construction is expected to begin in the early summer, with startup scheduled by year end. The project is expected to create up to 28 jobs during the construction phase, with up to 16 permanent green jobs when the facility is operational.
"Our goal is to extract as much value as possible from waste and this project will help us recover valuable resources to generate clean fuels, renewable energy and other beneficial products," said Dean Kattler, area vice president for Waste Management Pacific Northwest. "This project strengthens our focus on renewable energy and new technologies that use waste as a resource. We are committed to growing our business in this region in innovative ways, bringing green jobs to communities where we already have operations and community relationships."
With the S4 system, waste materials are prepared and fed into a first phase gasification chamber that operates at temperatures of approximately 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. After the first phase, the waste materials flow into a second closed chamber where they are superheated to temperatures between 10,000 and 20,000 degrees Fahrenheit using an electricity-conducting gas called plasma. The intense heat of the second stage plasma gasifier rearranges the molecular structure of the waste, transforming organic (carbon-based) materials into an ultra-clean, synthesis gas (syngas). The clean syngas may then be converted into transportation fuels such as ethanol and diesel, or industrial products like hydrogen and methanol. The syngas could also be used as a substitute for natural gas for heating or electricity generation. In a secondary stage of the PEM(TM) process, inorganic (non-carbon-based) materials are transformed into environmentally inert products.
The new plasma gasification facility will complement the landfill site's other renewable energy production. Waste Management began generating renewable electricity at the site in January 2010 with the startup of a new landfill gas-to-energy (LFGTE) facility. The LFGTE process captures methane gas generated as waste decomposes in the landfill and then uses the gas to generate 6 megawatts (MW) of electricity. The electricity is powering 5,000 homes in Seattle through an agreement with Seattle City Light. Wind power is also generated at the landfill, with 67 windmills producing more than 100 MW of renewable energy for PacifiCorp.
"Plasma gasification has garnered a lot of attention recently, as we look for new ways to sustainably manage waste while recovering valuable resources," said Jeff Surma, president and chief executive officer of S4 Energy Solutions. "We believe the project will demonstrate commercial viability of the new S4 integrated system, so that we can implement this technology at many other locations for a wide variety of applications."
S4 Energy Solutions was formed in May 2009 as a joint venture between Waste Management and InEnTec. The partnership combines Waste Management's industry leadership and expertise in the collection and management of a wide range of waste streams with InEnTec's PEM(TM) technology.
Together with Waste Management's other renewable energy initiatives, the joint venture has moved Waste Management toward meeting two of its sustainability goals, doubling its renewable energy production to a energy equivalent of powering two million homes by 2020, and investing in emerging technologies for managing waste. It is also complementary to Waste Management's comprehensive waste services in the areas of recycling, landfill, and waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy capabilities.
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