Hitachi Zosen (HZC) is set to construct an energy-from-waste facility in San Luis Obispo County, California, marking the start of its biogas business in the US.
The project will be carried by out by HZC, along with its wholly-owned subsidiary Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI), which is invovled in EPC and service business of energy from waste.
Project special purpose company (SPC), which was created by HZ group companies, will develop a Kompogas facility, which is expected to be cost around $22m.
The SPC will operate the plant to produce electricity, which will be sold to customers for 20 years.
In 2014, HZI purchased Kompogas EPC business from Axpo Kompogas Engineering ((Komeng). Later HZC group companies created Kompogas SLO to serve as Project SPC to manage the construction, operation and maintenance of the facility.
The company has decided to recover the investment by selling electricity generated from gas engine and biogas produced from the facility. It will also market the compost that is generated as by-product from methanation process.
HZC said that the project is the first Kompogas business and the first waste treatment plant as design, build, finance, own and operate (DBFOO) in the US.
The facility will deal with about 30,000 tons of green waste, in addition to separately sourced municipal organic waste from SLO County. It will generate around 2’907’000 Nm3 biogas per annum, with the support of Kompogas technology.
Local electric firm will purchase the electricity produced with biogas and gas engine, which can power up to 600 households.
Kompogas is a technology that will be used for dry anaerobic digestion. In this process, organis waste is treated under anaerobic conditions with temperature of 55? to generate biogas through fermentation process with microorganisms.
Image: HZC will recover the investment by selling electricity generated from gas engine and biogas produced from the facility. Photo: courtesy of Hitachi Zosen Corporation.