Work on the Renewable Energy Clean Air Project plasma gasification facility continues to move forward with a feasibility study soon available to the public and interest expressed from a neighboring county.
That new information was brought to members of the Koochiching Economic Development Authority and Koochiching Development Authority boards this week.
Members of the public may soon view a feasibility study on the proposed $30 million facility that 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.
The feasibility report will be available once Westinghouse Plasma Corp., a partner in the proposal, gives approval. The study would boil down a very lengthy document required to proceed with the project. It would highlight the key factors of the project, while removing proprietary information not publicly available.
However, this public document will still likely be in excess of 50 pages, officials noted, due to the complexities of the project.
In addition, board members heard about interest from a neighboring county to provide Koochiching with its waste for the facility. Mike Hanson, Koochiching County commissioner, and member of the KEDA and KDA boards, noted that the nearby county produces twice as much garbage as Koochiching, and is now paying $75 per ton to ship the waste to North Dakota.
This is a positive step, Hanson said. Having clients outside of Koochiching may play a role in determining potential budgets.
Paul Nevanen, KEDA director, and Hanson have been the local leaders of the project.
Local officials have been working with Coronal, project manager, for several years to determine the feasibility of siting such a facility in the Borderland.
By the third or fourth quarter of 2011, Hanson expects, the project would be ready for a presentation to the county to make a decision on whether to proceed.
Meanwhile, funding, permitting and design work is underway. This initial portion of the project is funded by about $5 million — roughly half each from state bonding dollars and federal funds.
Local funds have not yet been used in this project, and Hanson said the goal is not to use local bonding money for the project, though he admitted that plan could change.
Hanson again commented on the arduous nature of the process, which came as a surprise. While he said he anticipated some challenges to siting this new type of facility, there have been more steps and bureaucracy than originally expected.
“This is a living process,” Hanson explained, noting continual changes to variables important to the feasibility of the project.
But by the end of the coming year, he hinted, a definitive answer on the future of the project should be made.
