Council Backs ‘First of Kind’ Waste to Energy Facility in U.S. – Waste Mangagement World

Allentown City Council, Pennsylvania has taken a significant step towards approving a $25 million waste to energy facility that would use Hydrothermal Decomposition technology to turn the city’s waste and sewage into energy, according to a report by Lehigh Valley newspaper, The Morning Call.

 …According to the report, council Members said that the city is financially protected under the agreement and environmental concerns have been addressed.

The project is reportedly intended to be operational by 2015, converting sewage sludge and municipal waste into a coal-like substance to incinerate at high temperature with energy recovery.

Marco Bonilla, Delta Thermo’s chief operating officer claimed that while the proposed facility would be the first of its kind in the world, other plants using two of the three technologies proposed for the Allentown facility exist in Germany and Japan.

The company is also operating a test system to demonstrate the technology at the Atlantic County Utilities Authority’s Transfer Station in Egg Harbor, New Jersey. A video of the operation can be seen below.

…The report added that according to the council’s consultant, Scott Shearer of financial advisory firm, Public Financial Management, financial savings would come through the electricity credit, a. In the first year, the electricity savings would be $1.2 million. 

Additional savings could reportedly be made if the facility treated up waste from private haulers or other municipalities. Selling 11% of the plant’s capacity would allow the city to recoup upward of a extra $330,000 more in the first year.