SOURCE: ALTER NRG

“We don’t represent our technology as a ‘silver bullet’,” says Mark Montemurro, president and chief executive officer of Calgary, Canada-based Alter NRG, which is the parent company of Westinghouse Plasma. Westinghouse Plasma is considered to be the premier supplier of plasma gasification technology in the world. The company is also supplying plasma gasification equipment for Coskata’s cellulosic ethanol production plant in Madison, Penn. Alter NRG will use an array of biomass feedstocks to create a syngas to which Coskata will run through its technology process, which converts the syngas into ethanol. Montemurro says that construction is underway and Alter NRG expects the facility to be operational by early next year. “We think it has to be developed in conjunction with other recycling programs as well as potentially other technologies that are more financially suitable for dealing with certain types of biomass,” Montemurro says.

So what factors led to Koochiching County’s decision to implement plasma gasification technology? “The simple answer is timing, public acceptance, technology and economics,” says Paul Nevanen, director of the Koochiching County Economic Development Authority in International Falls, noting that the final stages of the study should be concluded later this year. “This solution made a lot of sense to us. It’s attractive because you’re getting rid of the emissions, producing energy and you’re not putting anything in the ground.”

Once the feasibility study is complete and if the county decides to proceed, the demonstration project would process more than 100 tons of MSW per day using all of Koochiching County’s waste, along with similar waste materials gathered from neighboring counties.

According to John Howard, chief technical officer for Coronal, successful commercialization of plasma gasification technology in the United States depends on how well the due diligence is carried out before a project comes to fruition. “Conducting due diligence as prudently as possible is critical for developing these projects,” he says. “We try to take this approach for every one of our projects. We have to prove that this solution works and that, for the most part, is what the International Falls project is about.”

As with any new technology, navigating through complicated permitting hurdles is a part of the process when developing a new project of this nature. Other factors, such as assessing the type of MSW produced in a specific location, are equally important, according to Surma.

“One of the things we’ve chosen to do is to keep our technology at a scale that meets the needs of local communities,” he says. “The nice thing about keeping it on a smaller scale, say 250 to 500 tons per day, is that you’re dealing with just locally generated material. What has historically been the real issue in getting any of these large waste processing facilities permitted wherever you choose to build it, is that you’re bringing in waste from 20 miles away to fill up that plant and the host community doesn’t particularly like having everyone else’s waste dumped on them.”

In addition to InEnTec, there are two other projects being developed in the United States. The first plasma-based waste disposal system in the country is scheduled to be operational in St. Lucie County, Fla. Developed by Geoplasma Inc., the plant is expected tovaporize 200 to 400 tons of waste per day and is scheduled to come on line in 2009.
The city of Tallahassee, Fla., has signed the largest plasma arc waste-to-energy contract to date with Jacksonville, Fla.-based Green Power Systems LLC to process 1,000 tons of MSW per day using plasma torches designed by Westinghouse Plasma. The Harris Group Inc. is serving as the architect and engineer for the project.

According to Richard Basford, vice president of project development for GPS, completion of the project is scheduled for October 2010. GPS will also deliver 35 net megawatts of electricity to the city of Tallahassee’s electricity provider as part of a 30-year power purchase agreement.

“We’re very positive about the plasma process,” Basford says. “I think as soon as several of these get on line and operating, and people gain some confidence, you’ll see them widespread. However, somebody has to be the first so that others can use that as a blueprint for success going forward.”

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