TECHNOLOGY

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DETROIT FREE PRESS

WASHINGTON TWP.
Plant would turn trash to gas
Company, county seek funding
October 21, 2007
BY STEVE NEAVLING
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Macomb County may explore a way to generate electricity by vaporizing trash at temperatures equal to the surface of the sun.
A startup company based in Washington Township, SunCrest Energy, wants to build a facility in the county to convert garbage into gas and eliminate the need for landfills.
It would be the first such facility in the state and could bolster a statewide effort to make Michigan a leader in clean energy.
Supporters say it's safer than traditional trash incineration because all of the byproducts are used.
While the idea is lofty, local and state politicians are backing the plan with hopes of capturing grants to make it possible.
"It's an incredible benefit for future generations," County Commissioner Paul Gieleghem, D-Clinton Township, said Thursday. "Right now municipal solid waste is sitting in a hole and endangering our groundwater."
If all the pieces fall into place -- the acquisition of grants and private investments -- a plant could be operating in the county in two years, said the company's founder and president, Marcello Iannucci.
Although a similar effort is afoot in St. Lucie County, Fla., Macomb County could be the first in the country with such a commercial waste-to-energy plant, Iannucci said.
"We sent a man to the moon in 1969, but we're still burying our trash in a big hole," Iannucci said. "Right now waste is a negative commodity. We want to turn it into a positive commodity."
The plant would move tons of trash through heat more than 10,000 degrees, converting it to synthetic gas to be run through turbines that generate electricity.
The effort comes at a tense time. Commissioners continue to wrangle over how to deal with a Lenox Township landfill that receives about half the Canadian trash that enters Michigan -- 300 dump trucks a day.
Some commissioners want to support a landfill expansion in exchange for reducing the flow of Canadian trash. Others oppose a larger landfill and are demanding larger reductions of imported waste.
Democratic commissioners in support of the plant are to hold a public hearing next month on the matter. No date or location has been set.

Contact STEVE NEAVLING at 586-469-4935 or sneavling@freepress.com.
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