Sharing Call: Portland, Oregon Metro Area Regional Food Digestion
July 13, 2011
Moderator: Janet Brown
Brief Project Description
Call Notes
The call was held to learn more about the regional approach to food waste digestion and methane recovery for generation of electricity. Benefit is landfill use reduction, soil amendment and methane capture for electrical power and a reduced material removal fee, as compared to solid waste disposal in a landfill.
Columbia Biogas is an innovative clean energy company that will convert commercial food waste into multiple “green” products including renewable energy, water, and high-quality fertilizer. Through a process of anaerobic digestion, organic matter will be broken down in the absence of oxygen and produce methane-rich biogas. The Columbia Biogas facility expects to set a standard in the United States for anaerobic digestion of commercially-generated food waste. The facility expects to generate biogas with the potential to produce approximately five megawatts of energy, which is equivalent to the electricity requirements of 5,000 homes. Providence’s Mike Geller will share the benefit to Portland Metro area facilities that were previously trucking their compostable food waste to the Seattle area.
Website:
John McKinney Bio
John McKinney is an entrepreneur with over 17 years of experience financing and managing energy related investments. Prior to Columbia Biogas, John founded Verde Power in 2001, a green-field development firm involved in the development of utility scale wind power projects. John has managed all aspects of project development including resource assessment, land acquisition, business development, power purchase agreements and interconnection strategy and negotiation, regulatory, permitting and project finance. He has extensive relationships in the renewable power market. In 2005, John co-founded Greenrock Capital, which worked exclusively with a leading global investment bank to originate, structure and negotiate over $650 million in partnership and project finance transactions involving renewable power developers and projects. John oversaw the firm’s corporate strategy and investment strategy, origination, structuring and monitoring activities.
Holly Stirnkorb Bio
Holly Stirnkorb has 20 years of experience in the field for environmental planning with an emphasis in the areas of waste reduction, recycling, and solid waste management planning. Her experience includes working with both the public and private sectors in all phases of project management, program planning, implementation and evaluation. As a consultant and senior staff for Washington County Solid Waste and Recycling, Holly has worked extensively with government agencies, the commercial sector, and industry groups. Holly has been working with John McKinney, the President and Founder of Columbia Biogas on a variety of aspects of the Columbia Biogas project since January of 2010.
Mike Geller
Most of you know Mike Geller – one of the veteran’s of health care sustainability and recently increasing his responsibility as a regional sustainability coordinator for Providence Health & Services.
Call JohnMcKinney, – Primary Speaker, Holly Stirnkorb, Speaker, Mike Geller, Comments, and participants: Linda Ward, Northern Michigan Hospital, Laura Kinney, MultiCare, Tacoma, WA, Amy Brooks of Brooks Contractor, a compost facility in North Carolina and Nicole Chardoul, Resource Recycling Systems.
Aneaerobic digestion is common in a wastewater plant. This site is intended for food waste from a variety of sources. Diverting commercial and residential food waste and facility is within city boundaries, close to airport. Reduces long hauls, reduces emissions associated with the hauling.
The sources and producers are commercial or industrial generators – grocery stores, food establishments and distributors. Industrial are food processors, beverage manufacturers
Located in a metro area and designed with sophisticated equipment to depackage any waste coming into the facility, this site will digest food in approximately 30 days and recover methane for energy use. Inappropriate packaging can be reduced and while it will first open at half time, it will ultimately be one the of the largest systems in the world.
There are approximately 125 digestors in the United States and in Europe there are over 7,500.
Currently there are numerous technical consultants, engineers, consultants in a European consulting firm to develop the project. This is a Large digester – 5 mega watts of electrical power recovery through methane. Waste goes into hydrolysis – 125 degrees for 3 days – predigestion then to one of three fermentation tanks and digested for 27 days. Bacteria and microbes are in the liquid and off gas biogas. Bio gas is 55% methane, collect in top of tank and are pulled off via a pipe which takes the gas through a conditioning process. Removes hydrogen sulfide and use of gas in on site generators. Will be connected and sold to the grid.
After the 30 days, goes to a smaller tank, liquid goes through a dewatering process – pulls off solids for composting. May be dried and producing a pelleted fertilizer.
Financing to be closed in 4th quarter and 12 month construction.
John and Holly have been reaching out to area facilities in the Portland Metro area for the past year. Providence has a letter of intent and is committed to using the facility and see the benefit through reduced miles to their Seattle area compost facility and pricing is slated or anticipated to be 30% less than solid waste disposal and comparable to composting fees.END