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operating in southern California for two years. It was built and is operated by <br />International Environmental Solutions, ofRomo|and, CA' <br />3.7 Plasma Arc <br />The o|aanla arc furnace is a ronlrnerda| unit process made and marketed by <br />Westinghouse. It has been successfully applied to a variety of industrial <br />applications; however, there are no commercial-scale plasma arc systems firing MSVV <br />in the United States at the time of this report. There are pilot plants used for ash <br />vitrification in Japan and a smaller Japanese facility firing MSVV, but attempts to <br />apply this process in the United States have not yet been successful. However, <br />several vendors are advancing projects as described earlier. The electric power <br />requirements for the torch are significant, and maintenance of torches and reactor <br />refractory materials is also a significant expense item. <br />Few, if any of the plasma arc pilot facilities have been able to generate a fuel gas <br />(syngas), and air emissions have been found to be no better than conventional <br />incineration systems. The Atlanta firm Geop|asrna has development contract and is <br />negotiating a contract for implementation of a large plasma arc facility for MSVV in <br />St. Lucia County, Florida, which will also to be used for processing mined landfill <br />waste. The City of Tallahassee, Florida approved the contract for Green Power <br />Systems to begin development of a 1,000 TPD plasma gasification plant, which is <br />scheduled to begin operations in2O1O' <br />3.8 Biological Fuel Production <br />3.8.1 Cellulosic Ethanol <br />There are a number of commercial facilities in the U.S. (See Table 3-3) and <br />worldwide producing cellulosic ethanol, a biofue| produced from |ignoceUu|oae, a <br />structural material that comprises much of the mass of plants. These facilities utilize <br />a variety of biomass feedstocks. Biomass is any living or naoant|y dead biological <br />rneteha| that can be used as fuel or for industrial production. Biomass feedstocks <br />include crops grown specifically for use as a feedstock, such as corn or hemp, <br />agricultural residues, and other organic residues and wastes, including the organic <br />portion of MSVV' At the time of this report, no U.S. facilities are feeding MSVV but a <br />number of vendors are planning to use K4BVV as a feedstock. <br />` <br />Abengoa 8ioenergy owns and operates five cellulosic ethanol facilities throughout the <br />United States and Europe with a total production capacity of over 200 million gallons <br />annually. It is currently the fifth largest producer of cellulosic ethanol in the United <br />States with a total of four plants located in Kansas, New Mexico, and Nebraska. The <br />most recent began operations in mid 2007, bhngingAbengoa Bioenergy'snannep|ate <br />capacity to more than 200 million gallons per year in the U.S' In addition, Abengoa <br />8ioenergy operates four plants in Europe. <br />The world's first commercial scale demonstration biomass plant is being constructed <br />bvAbangoa BUoenmrgyto exhibit its biomass-to-ethanol process technology. Located <br />in Gabi|afuente (Salamanca), Spain, the biomass plant will process 77 tons of <br />agricultural residues, such as wheat straw, each day and produce over 1.3 million <br />gallons of fuel grade ethanol per year. 8ioathano| is most currently used in Brazil, <br />where longstanding policies promote and encourage the use ofbioetheno| as fuel for <br />transportation. <br />GBB/C08027-01 7 August 15, 2008 <br />