BONNYVILLE – MD of Bonnyville council is now in-the-know about a form of recycling that previously wasn’t attainable in smaller markets.
Dan Duckering, chief operating officer and general manager of BioMass Energy Techniques Inc., made a presentation about biomass micro-gasification technology during the MD's June 3 committee meeting.
According to Duckering, biomass is “considered a renewable energy source because its inherent energy comes from the sun and because it can regrow in a relatively short time.”
The six sources of biomass include forestry crops and residues, agricultural crops and residues, industrial residues, animal residues, municipal solid waste, and sewage.
“With as little as 22-kilograms an hour of feedstock, low capital investment, and minor infrastructure requirements, we can start to convert waste into energy with no trucking and no landfill, removing problems with methane and all those other things that go with it,” Duckering detailed, adding a large number of items being sent to landfills could be used in this process.
“Large portions of what we’re currently putting into our landfills are potentially compatible with clean BioMass Micro-Gasification Technology.”
Micro-gasification is considered a clean technology that converts biomass to carbon-neutral energy directly where waste is generated, Duckering stated, there’s no burning emissions or odours with the practice. It also significantly decreases problems with methane gas that is typically seen with landfills.
“Methane is a huge environmental issue,” Duckering said. “It has 25 times the effect of carbon dioxide, so because of this, landfills are looking to reduce methane and finding ways to capture it prior to it being released into the atmosphere."
It could add an often overlooked step to recycling: recovery.
“Every time we throw out waste without recovering, we’re truly wasting energy because there’s energy inside it. So while we’re polluting our environment, we’re also wasting a renewable energy resource in an environment we all find ourselves being called on for more non-fossil fuel-based energy. We need to stop wasting this energy,” Duckering said.
He added, “It’s always important to reduce, reuse, and recycle. We need to continue to recycle things that make sense, but we need to have an option when it doesn’t make sense. We need to stop this cycle of a term I’ve learned called 'wish cycling.' In talking with landfill operators, this is the practice of tossing questionable items into a recycling bin just hoping that this might be able to be recycled but when in fact wish cycling causes an entire load of recycles to be contaminated trash and can no longer be recycled.”
Duckering noted converting waste into energy isn’t a new trend and it’s growing globally.
“There’s a growing recognition that waste recovery represents a lot of positives for communities that embrace it, however, I think it’s important to recognize that, historically, this technology was unattainable in small markets.”
When Reeve Greg Sawchuk considered the municipality’s landfills, he didn’t believe the BioMass Micro-Gasification Technology would be a good fit since they don’t use heat or electricity. Location was also a factor for Sawchuk, noting “I’m not so sure you’re going to be wanting a collection site next to a recreation centre.”
Duckering agreed, explaining there were a lot of options to have a facility located in an area people may not be open to having a landfill close to.
“If you have a waste transfer station or a landfill and you have a 53-foot trailer that you’re rotating out every couple of days or whatever, it's still clean and attractive looking and you can make it that way and an educational piece for people to talk about leadership in waste energy and renewable energy while not basically bringing a landfill into town, which I think is a really valid concern.”
