TRASH TO TREASURE

Cheyenne Wants to Turn its Garbage into Fuel

By Headwaters News, 5-08-06

Cheyenne is running out of space in its landfill, but instead of digging a new hole or shipping the garbage somewhere else, the Wyoming city is looking for another alternative, preferably one that can transform the trash into diesel fuel, reports the Associated Press in the Billings Gazette.

So far, four companies have responded to the city’s call for proposals in its trash-to-energy project. A representative from Washington-based Green Power is proposing a plant that can perform a process called “catalytic depolymerization.” The process is based on new technology and converts plastic and oil-based waste into diesel fuel that can be used to run cars and power energy grids.

It works by separating waste and converting the petroleum products back to usable energy — without emissions and toxic byproducts. And it claims to do so for a fraction of the price of similar technologies.

Other proposals offered similar technologies; last week the landfill manager was in Aurora, Colo., to see technology demonstrated by Renewable Utilities Development Corp., a Missouri-based company. Cheyenne officials have been working with the Idaho National Laboratory to review the technologies, which the lab says are all somewhat comparable.

Turning trash into gas instead of digging another landfill or looking for the lowest bidder to take it is another example of the West looking to innovation to solve some its most pressing issues. Such innovations will be the topic at the Sopris Conference in Aspen later this week, and discussed in a recent Western Perspecive column on Headwaters News.

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