Indiana Ethanol Power moves to contract stage on 20 Mgy solid-waste-to-ethanol plant

Indiana Ethanol Power has commenced contract negotiations with Lake County Solid Waste Management District for its proposed 20 Mgy waste-to-ethanol plant. The plant will use the GeneSyst process to convert solid waste to ethanol. Construction is expected to commence in 2008, and production in 2010.

Waste-to-ethanol projects have been increasingly visible in recent months.

• In New York, Masada said it is awaiting a green light from the the city council of Middletown to proceed with a 10 Mgy waste-to-ethanol plant. The plant, which was originally proposed in 1996, has cost more than $40 million in its development phase, according to the Times-Record. The plant is scheduled for completion this December but the relationship between the city and Masada has deteriorated, with the city filing a lawsuit and Masada filing for arbitration.

In Canada, the city of Edmonton has proposed a gasification plant for the Clover Bar landfill that will convert trash into ethanol. The facility is expected to convert 100,000 tonnes of waste material into methanol, and to develop a process to convert methanol into ethanol for fuel markets. The proposed plant would open in 2010.

• In New Jersey, a 10 Mgy corn and fruit waste ethanol plant has been proposed by New Jersey Ethanol. A $6 million facility would be constructed near Bridgeton with an initial capacity of 3 Mgy, and the company said they have completed permitting and will now proceed with construction.

• BlueFire Ethanol Fuels is ready to break ground this month on its 3.1 Mgy waste-to-ethanol plant near Lancaster, California. The company is awaiting its air permit before commencing construction, after securing additional financing to supplement a cellulosic ethanol grant from the Department of Energy received last year. The company, which plans to erect a number of waste-to-ethanol plants near landfills, has a 16.6 Mgy plant on the drawing board that would be built near Corona. Bluefire holds the exclusive North American license to employ the Arkenol Process Technology, a patented system that transforms cellulosic waste into usable ethanol.