would receive the next $2,467,500 and the two parties would share, on a city 25%/Plasco 75% basis, any annual revenues above $37,390,000.” He adds that in recognition of the city’s commitment to Plasco and the development of this process, Plasco has offered the city a marketing fee to a total amount of $18 million, with an annual maximum of $3 million, to be paid based upon a $5 per tonne fee for all processing carried out in North America – excluding the first site constructed in California since this facility was confirmed prior to the agreement with the City of Ottawa. Not that the process is without hurdles. In fact in late February 2013, Ottawa’s city council granted Plasco a five-month extension to complete financing and let out contracts on the plant, due to come on line in 2016. Still, council remains committed to the process. “Plasco is the only technology operating today that can take mixed municipal solid waste as delivered from collection trucks and produce syngas to operate engines,” Young notes. “These engines are at least 30% more efficient than using steam to power turbines. While many technolo-gies exist for clean biomass and wood, other technologies do not address adulterated biomass and the variety of materials found in waste.” He says the agreement with Plasco advances the city’s goals of maximizing waste diversion and reserving municipal landfill capacity for residential waste, should the technology prove successful. “It will also showcase Ottawa as a municipal leader in waste-to-energy tech,” Young points out. “This is not only an opportunity to showcase Plasco’s cutting-edge technology, but it also boosts Ottawa’s reputation as a place for innovation.” “Furthermore,” Jim Watson noted in his blog in late 2011, “Plasco has created some of the most desirable kind of jobs for any city to attract – in engineering, process design, high-end fabrication…[It] has attracted the Plasco Plant PRoDUcts For every tonne of municipal solid waste (with an average calorific value of 14,200 megajoules per tonne) processed with the Plasco Conversion System, the following is produced: • 1 kilowatt-hour of net electricity • 300 litres of water for reuse • 7 to 15 kilograms of metal (both ferrous and light metals like aluminum) • 150 kilograms of slag (which can be used in place of quarried aggregates, such as sand to mix with portland cement to make concrete or as aggregate in asphalt) Time to commission a Plasco facility (after all permits are ob-tained): 18 to 24 months GenerAtors: General Electric Jenbacher other equIPMent: Final decisions on suppliers have not been made. kind of jobs and innovation that have the potential to grow a new indus-try, to diversify our economy and potentially make a global impact.” At that point in time, Watson called Plasco “a potential world player, home-grown in Ottawa…poised to become very successful.” With interest in the company burgeoning and contracts in China and California already secured, it seems his predictions are coming true. • For more on bio-products, visit www.canadianbiomassmagazine.ca Fueling Growth Through Clean Technology Contact us. Our bioeconomy expertise & experience will ensure your project success. www.biomassinnovation.ca resource development & knowledge transfer [email protected] Nipissing University, North Bay, Ontario Educate project management & capacity building Develop demonstration projects & community energy Implement Canadian BIOMASS 13
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