Over the past two months
we’ve blogged about five different projects in the realm of biomass, using
various forms of gasification. As promised, we’ve continued to monitor these
projects and will bring you periodic updates so you can give your Google search
bar a rest. So sit back, and read up!
Taylor Biomass
Energy: Taylor’s plans for a
waste gasification facility in Montgomery, N.Y. have experienced several snags
over the past two years but an article in the Times Herald-Democrat announced that the company has finally secured
feedstock agreements.
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| CEO Jim Taylor (Second from the Left) with the Orange County Chamber of Commerce in July 2011. Courtesy: OCC |
Published on Jan. 24th,
the paper reports, “at least seven Orange County municipalities have now signed
20-year contracts” with Taylor Biomass Energy to haul their trash to the
facility upon completion.
The news represents a
big a win for CEO Jim Taylor whose previous negotiations with the county ended
in August over the question of an escape clause. At that time, the City of
Newburgh was Taylor’s only guaranteed customer for the proposed plant.
The latest announcement
says that Cornwall, New Windsor, Goshen, Walden, Montgomery and
Cornwall-on-Hudson have now joined Newburgh as future customers of Taylor
Biomass Energy.
While the feedstock
agreements are a good sign, Taylor still has a long way to go before it can
open doors on a new facility. Although Sen. Charles Schumer has publicly
supported the project, Taylor still needs to secure private funding for the
$145 million facility in order to qualify for the federal loan guarantee he’s
after.
Additionally, Taylor
Biomass Energy is waiting for the outcome of a permit dispute it has with the
state. A New York Supreme Court judge “invalidated the project’s permits and
approvals” in September. The company won a stay after appealing the decision
that allows for construction to continue but is not out of the woods yet.
Read more about Taylor
Biomass Energy
Sundrop Fuels: The Colorado-based company is moving forward with
plans for its inaugural facility in Boyce, La. The Louisiana State Board
Commission gave “preliminary approval to the issuance of $450 million in bonds
by Rapides Parish officials to equip a new facility,” as reported by The
Times-Picayune on Jan. 20th.
The latest timeline has
the pilot plant near Alexandria, La. on line by 2013 with a full plant
functioning two years later.
Read more about Sundrop
Fuels (discussed mid-article):
S4 Energy Solutions: Our guest blogger first put S4 Energy Solutions
(named because of plasma is the fourth state of matter) on our radar back in
November. The company opened the first commercial plasma gasification facility
in the U.S. at the site of the Columbia Ridge Landfill in Arlington, Ore. The
project is featured in February’s issue of Wired magazine.
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| A diagram of the S4 plasma gasification process. Courtesy: S4 Energy Solutions. |
Plasma gasification has
been a hot topic in the renewable energy field but has proved “too energy- and
capital-intensive for real-world use on everyday trash,” according to magazine
writer David Wolman. But S4 cofounder Jeff Surma is convinced he can make the
process work on a large scale and has received millions in financial backing
from Waste Management, that owns the landfill in Arlington.
Read More about S4
Energy Solutions:
