WV OUTPOST – If things go well, Martinsburg WV will be adding a mixed-waste processing facility that will produce a recycled fuel. The proposed site for the project is at the Solid Waste Authority’s Grapevine Road Site. This site is an ideal location for the project , since the SWA also has three recycling centers at this site. Anything that cannot be used by the facility can be sent to the recycling centers. The site for the project is a landfill that closed it’s doors back in 1991. There is also a potential for the use of methane gas as a fuel at the site. Which would make the project even more environmentally friendly.

Since this project is new technology and as with anything new, all the permitting and technical issues will have to be resolved before any head way can be made on the construction of the facility. It seems to be a noble project that needs to be considered. We will keep our fingers crossed and hope that this project becomes a reality.

In a recent article by Jenni Vincent at The Journal

A local site has been chosen for a proposed mixed-waste processing facility that would be the first of its kind in the nation, county and company officials confirmed this week.

The facility would use municipal solid waste to produce a type of recycled fuel. Corporate spokesmen confirmed that one of the local customers may be Essroc Cement Corp., and the two companies are in negotiations about using the fuel locally at the Martinsburg company’s cement kiln.

Berkeley County Solid Waste Authority Chairman Clint Hogbin said the company, Chemtex International Inc., formally indicated that it is interested in using four of the 140 acres at the SWA’s Grapevine Road site.

Although the site is home to one of the SWA’s three recycling centers, the proposed plant will not impact its current use and could even help it, Hogbin said.


That’s because items pulled out of the plant’s waste stream – including metal cans, tires and electronics – that can’t be used to produce fuel could potentially be marketed through the recycling center, he said.

The proposed site offers some other advantages since it is a former landfill that quit taking garbage in 1991, and the methane gas from it could potentially be used as a fuel source, Hogbin said.

 

As proposed, the processing facility would accept mixed residential and commercial solid waste. The waste would be processed to not only remove certain metals for recycling and plastics, it also would dry the remaining solid waste through a mechanical process termed composting. The end product would be a fuel that could be marketed to cement kilns to burn with coal for fuel.

If the proposed facility becomes a reality, Hogbin said it would be a Class B solid waste facility, meaning that it could not accept more than 9,999 tons of waste per month.

But none of that will happen until the proposal goes through the regulatory process, he said.

Since this technology is new, it’s a learning process for officials, Hogbin added.

“It is the first of its kind, and dealing with this kind of plant is new to us, so we’re still trying to figure out the technical and permitting path,” he said.

To find out more information on the proposed project read the full article by Jenni Vincent at The Journal. She did a wonderful job covering this story and is worth reading.

Photo Credit:  sepponet via Flickr