Entsorga West Virginia to Build US’s First Mechanical Biological Treatment : US-Italian JV Starts Work on MBT Waste Processing Facility in West Virginia
Entsorga West Virginia, a joint venture between Apple Valley Waste Technologies, Inc., Entsorga Italia S.p.A., and Chemtex Global N.V. has begun construction work on a resource recovery facility utilising Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT).
According to the JV, the waste-to-solid fuel plant, located in Martinsburg, West Virginia, will be the first of its type in the US and is expected to be operational in early 2017.
Entsorga WV said that by utilising the HEBioT MBT system, it will recover bio-mass, plastics and other carbon based materials such as other valuable recyclable commodities such as ferrous and non-ferrous metals from the mixed municipal solid waste stream and convert them into an alternative fuel source.
According to the company the treatment system can be divided into three key steps:
Waste reception and pre-treatment by screening the waste and seprating it into two flows
Accelerated optimsed biostabilisation/biodehydratation
Mechanical refining.
The entire process is carried out inside a building which is maintained under negative air pressure to avoid the release of odours to the environment. Process air from the building is treated prior to release to the atmosphere.
Pietro Cella Mazzariol, CEO & director of Entsorga said that the facility is a “significant milestone for the United States” in to converting waste into an EPA recognised alternative fuel source.
The SRF that the plant will produce is said to be ideal for co-processing plants such as cement kilns and steel mills.
At capacity, the plant will be capable of producing approximately 50,000 tons (45,300 tonnes) of solid recovered fuel annually, which will be delivered to the Essroc Cement Plant and used in conjunction with coal in the production of Portland cement.
The companies have entered into a long-term contract for the provision and acceptance of the SRF.
The Italian firm claimed that the use of SRF from its process has been proven to generate emissions comparable to or less than those found in traditional U.S. fossil fuels.
Further, the reduction of waste that will be finally disposed of in landfill as a result of the Entsorga facility was said to result in a greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction of 28,000 tons per year of carbon dioxide (or carbon dioxide equivalent).
EPA Recognised
The Entsorga MBT technology creates an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-recognised ‘engineered fuel’.
The company explained that this means that facilities using this specific SRF, as an alternative fuel, will not be subject to the EPA incinerator rule (Commercial/Industrial Solid Waste Incinerator Rule) and that the SRF meets certain standards that other fuels cannot meet.
The vertical integration of the model that will be deployed in Berkeley County was said to further add to the plant’s functionality. Residential waste collected by Apple Valley Waste, which was previously destined to be landfilled, will in future be transported to a local facility owned partially by the hauler and converted and used within the county as an alternative, renewable fuel.
Additionally, Entsorga claimed that a minimum of 100 temporary jobs will be created during the construction period of the plant and up to 20 permanent positions once it is operational.
“With the support of Berkeley County and the State of West Virginia, Apple Valley Waste will set an example as the “new age” integrated waste company” commented John Decker, CEO of Apple Valley Waste.
“We will collect and dispose of waste to be used to manufacture a clean alternative fuel and then deliver it to its ultimate user all within the same county of West Virginia. To my knowledge this is unprecedented,” he continued.
Clint R. Hogbin, the authority’s chairman add: “The project represents the future of solid waste management, as this new facility may enable Berkeley County to become the first in the State to exceed West Virginia’s 50% landfill diversion goal for its residential waste stream.”
Frank E. Celli, director, Entsorga & Chairman of the Board at Apple Valley Waste said: “We believe this is a ‘sneak peek’ at the next generation of waste collection and disposal and one that will have a meaningful impact on the country’s fossil fuel dependency.”
The project is being financed with $25 million in tax exempt, private activity bonds issued by the West Virginia Economic Development Authority on behalf of Entsorga West Virginia, LLC
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