Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
Minutes - Regular Meeting <br /> Solid Waste Advisory Board <br /> August 7, 2008 <br /> Approved September 4, 2008 <br /> Gershman states that that is the thought. The volumes are a lot less but no one' s <br /> doing this . We are now in the area [of technologies] that you shouldn' t buy . It' s not <br /> just technology, it' s who ' s selling it. You want to buy technology that works from <br /> someone who will be there with it and ten years from now they' ll answer the phone . I <br /> haven' t spent a lot of time on these; I wait until they become real . <br /> Bowerman asks what would be the advantage to that over anything else . <br /> Gershman replies the quantity of emissions is much lower . We' ve seen pyrolysis <br /> projects come and go by " small' companies, like Monsanto and Union Carbide and <br /> they couldn t do it. <br /> Sassaman states that I would think that with the gas some of the problems would be <br /> with the metals like mercury and also chlorine . <br /> Gershman replies no comment. Some of the other gasification technologies are very <br /> expensive and there are a lot of demonstration projects . The ash is ' nicer' because <br /> Of a consistent, glassier material that is easier to use . Plasma <br /> they heat it further and <br /> arc technology is where you stick electrodes in the garbage and you zap it. He then <br /> discusses the biological technologies . You have to get a lot of material out then a biogas is <br /> produced and a soil amendment, not a fertilizer . I think this is worth watching . <br /> Pollock states that in your report you mention a using the ' digestate' as fertilizer type <br /> soil amendment. You also wrote that it might tend to concentrate undesirable metals . <br /> Have they done any assays of the digestion? <br /> Gershman replies I don' t know if they have . It would be nice if they can make ethanol <br /> from garbage and people have worked on this for 3040 years with corn stalks, or <br /> wheat straw, but not mixed garbage . There is some good work going on in Canada, <br /> but you wouldn' t do this today . People are trying to use biotechnologies they' ve <br /> tested on five tons of wood and now they want to scale up to 200 tons of garbage . <br /> What would happen if you were trying to build this ? The public would ask why you <br /> weren' t recycling more . You would have to get to 50 % recycling before you could <br /> consider burning . Getting to 50 % is not that easy . It' s a suggestion we make if people <br /> are interested . Site selection is critical . Plants can look really nice . In general, larger <br /> is cheaper and if you can sell low pressure steam or hot water it' s cheaper, public <br /> ownership is less costly . Longer term bonds are cheaper . High disposal costs play a <br /> part here . Your $50 per ton disposal costs are medium, not high , like $100 a ton in <br /> New England . <br /> 6 <br />