2007-04-11 - Waste plan surpasses standards: Bryden
Plasco chief says gasification will prove itself against incineration
Ottawa's homegrown waste-to-energy technology is a better bet than incineration because it won't emit dioxins and furans and will still handle garbage at a reasonable cost, says businessman Rod Bryden.
Mr. Bryden, president of Plasco Energy Group Inc., will soon be powering up the company's test plant for gasification of garbage, in a joint venture with the City of Ottawa at the municipal Trail Road landfill.
Tonight at a public meeting with Councillor Jan Harder, the company will tell people the process will produce air emissions far below the limits allowed by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.
The company doesn't expect to discharge any dioxins or furans.
Dioxins and furans are toxic chemicals found in small amounts in the environment. Health Canada says exposure to them can cause adverse health effects in animals and humans.
For emissions from the generators used in the Plasco plant, such as nitrogen oxides, the province allows 110 parts per million, and the company says it will deliver about 20. For cadmium, the company plans to limit emissions to 1/14th of what the provincial government allows.
"We're under by huge amounts," Mr. Bryden told the Citizen's editorial board yesterday. "We didn't create the rules, but what we are delivering is fractions of the emissions that the rules permit."
The Plasco gasification process breaks down garbage and turns it into fuel gas that generates electricity. The system is designed with no smokestack and the chambers are sealed. A similar test plant is operating in Spain.
The process will produce three byproducts: an inert slag that can be used as road aggregate or to make paving stones; some sulphur that can be used to condition soil; and some heavy metals that will have to be taken to a landfill. A tonne of garbage will produce 150 kilograms of slag, five kilograms of sulphur and 1.3 kilograms of heavy metals.
By the end of May or first week of June, the company will be testing the plant with clean materials, then taking garbage, creating gas and generating power.
The plant will run for two to three days, then shut down while the machinery is checked. By fall, the plant should be operating around the clock, taking in up to 75 tonnes of garbage a day. This test plant, built on three acres, is to run for at least two years.
In the event of an emergency shutdown, the plant would burn off gas by flaring. Alisdair McLean, director of engineering for Plasco, said emergency shutdown would occur in the highly unlikely event of a leak, a power failure or if the plant engines failed.
"If we're producing gas and there's nowhere to send it, we've got to shut down immediately," said Mr. McLean.
Mr. Bryden and Mr. McLean said there's no risk of explosion.
Due to design changes, the project, supported financially by the federal government, is about four months behind the original schedule. Mr. Bryden said financing has been found with relative ease, with the latest equity investors being environmental technology funds from London and the United States.
Other companies, including Waste Management -- a big player in the garbage business in Ottawa and North America -- are keen to establish incinerators to handle Ottawa's garbage.
But Mr. Bryden said Plasco should prove attractive because not only will there be minimal emissions, but the company -- making 11 cents a kilowatt hour and even higher amounts during peak periods for its green power -- will be able to give the city an attractive deal: charging $50 per tonne of trash for a first commercial-sized plant and between $55 and $65 a tonne for subsequent plants. Last year, Algonquin Power, a company that burns trash for Peel region, was charging $80 per tonne.
Mr. Bryden said a major reason for Plasco's ability to keep rates low is that its production of power from waste is more efficient than incineration. Plasco is able to generate 1,400 kilowatt hours of power per tonne of garbage, while incinerators in North America are generating between 450 and 600 kilowatt hours per tonne.
If the Plasco project runs as planned, and more plants are built, they would be built and operated by the company, likely on a 20-year contract with the city. The smallest commercially viable plant would be capable of taking 200 tonnes of garbage a day. Mr. Bryden said it makes sense to build several smaller plants in Ottawa, rather than a single huge one, to reduce the amount of garbage trucking and not create transmission problems on the power grid.
If the test site works as planned, and commercial plants are built across North America, Ottawa stands to make up to $35 million in royalties over the next 10 years for having allowed Plasco to test the technology at Trail Road.
The city will also be paying the "Wal-Mart" price of $40 a tonne through the two-year test period.
Mr. Bryden said he hasn't bothered to court environmentalists with the Plasco technology because many will have trouble with anything that makes dealing with garbage easier, because it might reduce recycling.
Mr. Bryden cited a consultant's report that concludes that the project at Trail Road will result in significant CO2 emission reductions, compared to running the landfill as usual. So far, he hasn't faced community opposition to the project, though he expects some city residents will be asking about emissions at tonight's meeting.
An environmental committee, chaired by Ms. Harder, will monitor the project. Mr. Bryden promises that emission results will be posted on the Internet.
Ms. Harder said she's had virtually no negative public reaction to the project, a fact she attributes to the lack of a smokestack and the unobtrusive look of the plant. Mr. Bryden calls the plant "visually and ergonomically uneventful."
Ms. Harder said a lot of people are excited about the Plasco project because it's a step away from smelly landfills, with technology from an Ottawa company. And the city didn't spend any money on the project, simply agreeing to send some of its trash to the plant.
This article originally appears at the Ottawa Citizen.