It’s a day Mike Hanson said he thought would never come.
The day brought signed contracts that make nearly $5 million available to continue preliminary work on the Renewable Energy Clean Air Project.
The contracts involve the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Westinghouse Plasma, Koochiching County and the Koochiching Development Authority.
“It means we gain credibility and we’re still in the queue,” Hanson said.
Hanson said this week that RECAP was initially considered the No. 1 project in the nation involving the gasification technology. The status of the local project has slipped to No. 6 or No. 7. because of delays in accessing the money, he said.
However, he called having the contracts signed and money available “an axis, a turning point” in the project. “It’s one of the low lights we went through,” he said of negotiations involving the contracts.
At issue in those negotiations, among other concerns, was determining which entity would retain intellectual property rights involving the technology proposed for the project.
RECAP would use a plasma arc torch to vaporize garbage and other waste to produce synthetic gas and slag. The “syngas,” comes from organic waste and would be sold as sources of energy, such as steam. Slag, the byproduct of gasifying inorganic waste, can be sold as road aggregate, tile and bricks, among other products.
Paul Nevanen, Koochiching Economic Development Authority director, called the contracts a significant milestone and admitted that the process that led to the signing of the contracts was frustrating.
“Coronal’s been patient, the county’s been patient, we’ve all been patient,” Nevanen told the Koochiching Economic Development Authority Board Wednesday. “To say that it’s been frustrating is a huge understatement.”
Coronal is a company that is partnering with the county to help develop the facility.
Nevanen said that one difficult aspect of the delay was watching variables change, especially in the pricing of items crucial to the project. He gave the price of gas as one example of a “moving target” that has fluctuated during the last three years the project has been considered.
A feasibility study on the proposed project was recently completed and is available to the public, noted Hanson.
Nevanen said that the funding will allow for further engineering work, design and even some permitting.
The project, he said, has gained a lot of support across the nation.
“It fits in with the long-term plans to deal with landfills,” Nevanen said, referring to plans to use garage as feed stock for the facility instead of placing it in a landfill.
Nevanen also told the board that conversations continue with a local industry, which has indicated interest in serving as a host for the syngas. Boise has expressed continuing interest in communicating with the RECAP leaders, he said.
Bob Anderson, Boise Inc. public affairs manager, has said the company and the local mill have been involved in public-private partnerships previously.
“We are exploring that possibility (of being involved in the project) now,” he told The Journal earlier. “It’s complex one, handling of garbage and the gasification system. This is not an area we have expertise in. There are a lot of complexities.”
Nevanen said with the work being funded through the release of the state and federal money, more information can be obtained to flesh out the specifics that will help companies such as Boise decide if the project is a good fit with their organization.
