EcoPlus produces same BTUs as anthracite coal from brown grease

In North Carolina, EcoPlus said that it can produce up to 600 tons of solid fuel for power generation per million gallons of brown grease wastewater generated by municipalities, that generates 11,000 BTUs per pound, or equivalent to high-yield anthracite coal. Traditional waste oil biodiesel operations focus on conversion of yellow greases and fryer oils.

US cities generate an average of 2 gallons of brown grease waste per month per resident. For example, Houston produces 11-12 million gallons per month — and pay substantial disposal fees of up to 30 cents per gallon, with landfills increasingly hard to find locally that will accept dewatered brown grease.

EcoPlus, which has operated a successful facility via a licensee for 6 years in the Charlotte area, is proposing to acquire the licensee and expand operations to other locations. The company is in advanced discussions with Berkeley County, South Carolina. The company’s technology converts brown grease to a solid fuel product with the consistency of sand. A typical scale plant will handle 1 million gallons per month, and generate $3 million in revenues with $1-$2 million in profit generation.

“Munis don’t want a brown grease wastewater stream in their systems,” said EcoPlus CEO Phil Hicks. “To begin with, they don’t want the pathogens, and don;t want the problem of pumping, disposing and cleaning out their pipelines. Plus, the end product is far superior to coal for the utility. There are no heavy metals, low sulphur, no emissions coming out of the smokestack. Yet it burns like coal, and will burn alone.”

“The advantage and the problem is that the system is so unique,” Hicks said.”Not every city likes to be among the first with a new technology, especially in this economy.”

EcoPlus said that they have had contact with firms in Spain and Germany and have established a joint venture for the Malaysian market, but expected in general to develop initially in the US. The company also offers a simpler, dewatering plant that can be located 60 miles or more from the final processing facility, and which can concentrate oils and grease collected by local service operators from restaurants and other sources (such collection generally done across the United States by independent operators). The dewatered, concentrated oils and grease are trucked to final processing.

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