S4 Energy, a joint venture of Waste Management, and InEnTec, has said that it plans to develop a plasma gasification facility at Waste Management's Columbia Ridge Landfill in Arlington, Oregon. The planned facility will convert municipal solid waste into clean fuels and renewable energy.
The 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.
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 such as hydrogen and methanol.
The company said that syngas could also be used as a substitute for natural gas for heating or electricity generation. In a secondary stage of the PEM 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 6MW 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 100MW of renewable energy for PacifiCorp.
Dean Kattler, area vice president for Waste Management Pacific Northwest, said: “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.”