Sludge Watch ==> Indiana: Lake County garbage/sludge - to - ethanol proposals

[Maureen Reilly]

Lake County may fill up on garbage-to-ethanol proposals
Sunday, July 8, 2007 12:14 AM CDT
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BY BILL DOLAN
bdolan at nwitimes.com
219.662.5328

CROWN POINT | The trash in your garbage can could someday become the tiger 
in your tank.

The Lake County Solid Waste Management District is considering proposals 
from two Indiana firms to construct plants converting municipal solid waste 
into ethanol, a hydrocarbon fuel supplement now offered at a growing number 
of service stations.

Spokesmen for Genahol-Powers 1 LLC and Indiana Ethanol Power LLC, both of 
Evansville, said their proposals would be the first in the world to provide 
full-scale waste-to-energy plants with processes previously used only in 
demonstration projects.

"We are providing solutions without any negative impact," said Zig Resiak, 
Indiana Ethanol's business development and pre-construction manager.

The proposals are in response to the county waste district's request for a 
20-year plan to dispose of the county's rising waste stream.

Allied Waste, of Crown Point, has forwarded to the district a plan to 
continue landfill disposal for the next two decades.

Cliff Duggan, an attorney for the district, said Friday he is compiling a 
spreadsheet to compare the costs and benefits of the competing bids. The 
district's board of directors will vote on a choice in the coming weeks.

The ethanol companies each claim they will pump at least $70 million into 
the county to build and operate plants designed to process thousands of tons 
of garbage daily, creating jobs with minimal air or water pollution.

Genahol would crush and shred carbon-based solid waste such as paper, 
cardboard, wood and food waste, heating the mixture to 1,400 degrees in a 
low oxygen atmosphere, company officials said. The resulting gas would be 
distilled into ethanol.

Indiana Ethanol's approach is to ferment cellulosic materials -- including 
sludge from municipal treatment plants or large animal farms.

The thorny question of where to build such a plant is yet to be answered.

http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2007/07/08/news/lake_county/doc8d7beadde40e221c8625731200098896.txt