Starting next year, some
of the trash you toss out may end up in gas tanks instead of buried at
a large regional landfill in eastern Oregon. Correspondent Tom Banse
explains.
This project is a joint venture between landfill
operator Waste Management Inc. and a small engineering company based in
Bend called InEnTec. The partners announced they'll build their first
waste-to-energy plant at the big landfill near Arlington, Oregon. The
planned facility will vaporize trash in a very high temperature melter.
Spokeswoman Jackie Lang says the resulting superheated gases can then
be recombined to make synthetic fuel.
Lang: “We are really
excited about the option of producing clean transportation fuels. Could
be diesel. Could be ethanol, methanol. We're not focusing right now on
that end product as much as we're focusing on the installation of the
plant itself.”
Lang says electricity generation by burning the
fuel is another option. Construction is set to begin this summer. If
all goes well, the waste-to-energy plant could start up at the end of
the year. I'm Tom Banse reporting.
Copyright 2010 Northwest News Network
Web extras:
S4 Energy Solutions (joint venture between Waste Management and Bend-based InEnTec):
www.S4energysolutions.com