Kalkaska mulls proposed gasification plant

KALKASKA -- Northern Michigan rubbish could become a renewable energy source for a Kalkaska-based waste hauler.

American Waste wants to build a facility that turns trash into energy through a process called gasification, but first must convince Kalkaska County to accommodate the project in its solid waste management plan.

"We believe we can do it with the waste we currently collect within our own northern Michigan counties," said Eddie Ascione, company co-owner. "We're positioning ourselves with this technology to meet the renewable energy needs in Michigan. The state's goal is 10 percent renewable energy by 2015."

The county's Solid Waste Management Planning Committee approved an amendment to the county's solid waste plan to allow such a facility that's not presently addressed in the document.

A 90-day public comment period on those changes will begin around Oct. 1 and will include at least one public hearing still to be scheduled. The amendment needs approval from at least two-thirds of the county's municipalities -- 12 townships and the village of Kalkaska -- and the county board plus the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

"It usually takes at least a year," said Patty O'Donnell of the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments, chairwoman of the committee.

Gasification technology involves low temperature conversion of trash into synthesis gas, which is then burned at a higher temperature and used to spin a turbine to generate electricity. The electricity would be used by the company and excess energy would be sold back to the regional power grid.

The energy recovery facility would reduce solid waste volume by at least 80 percent, leaving behind nonhazardous ash residue and releasing carbon dioxide and water vapor into the air, Ascione said.

"This is a great technology because it solves two problems -- the landfilling of waste and the need for energy," he said.

"Millions" would be spent to build the facility, he said, and it would generate between 1.5 and 3 megawatts of electricity per day.

The facility would be located at the company's current site at the corner of Seeley Road and U.S. 131, two miles north of Kalkaska.

Truck traffic at the site would decrease because fewer trips to landfills would be necessary, Ascione said.

Committee member Sandra Ruppert of Kalkaska expects the proposal probably to generate plenty of questions from residents about plant emissions and the ash residue that is landfilled.

"People in close vicinity will be more concerned than those who live further out," Ruppert said.

The company also seeks another amendment to the solid waste plan to allow the transport of municipal solid waste to and from all counties in the state. It faces the same approval process.

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American Waste will investigate whether to build a gasification facility to turn garbage into energy here at its site along U.S. 131, two miles north of Kalkaska. First, the technology must be added to the county's solid waste management plan. Record-Eagle