Waste-to-Fuel Technology Creating NanoDiesel

Green Power, Inc., a Washington based company, thrilled spectators at their demonstration on Wednesday, July 26. Green Power, Inc. demonstrated their new technology of turning everyday landfill waste into diesel fuel, in a process called Catalytic Depolymerization.

“We really can convert regular household waste, medical waste, anything that is not radioactive, metal, glass or porcelain, into diesel fuel,” said Michael Spitzauer, CEO of Green Power, Inc.

The demonstration took place in Fife, Washington and was witnessed by approximately 200 onlookers, including various government officials, oil refinery, corporate representatives and media. Visitors from as far as India and Japan came to witness the demonstration.

Ramesh Kumar Jalan, an advisor for Delhi Waste Management in India, flew in for the demonstration. “I’ve been evaluating waste management for 15 years and have never seen anything like this,” said Jalan, who has a doctorate degree in waste management. He also said he was optimistic about this technology and its potential in India. Before his return to India, a tentative agreement was reached to build plants in his country.

“I went in skeptical and came out optimistic that they have something viable,” said Peter Moulton, who manages the Harvesting Clean Energy program for Climate Solutions, an Olympia based nonprofit group.

Green Power’s mobile demonstration unit, mounted on a tractor-trailer rig, is intended to visit cities across the country this summer and fall. The mobile demonstration unit is a miniature version of a much larger, permanent plant that will consume, depending on size, from 500-2000 tons of landfill waste per day.

A typical 500 ton-per-day plant is actually 5, 100-ton plants stacked together. This provides an element of redundancy, standardization and reliability. The entire plant does not have to be shut down for maintenance or repair. Additionally, manufacturing costs will be reduced. As a site’s capacity needs to increase, additional units can be added without a major redesign.

The plant will yield approximately 75,000 gallons of very high grade diesel fuel in the same period, with zero pollution, thanks to Green Power’s patented, low-temperature process. The cost to produce the fuel will be extremely competitive, estimated at .52 to .58 USD per gallon.

The first plant is to open next year on tribal land in the Tacoma suburb. A second plant will be located in Montana on land already purchased. Green Power, Inc. hopes to have 1,500 operational plants across the country. This will help solve not only landfill issues but also imported oil issues.

Arrangements are presently underway to receive technical verification and standardization, through Combustion Resources of Provo, Utah, as well as Idaho National Laboratories, two independent and nationally recognized research firms, which specialize in study and verification of similar technologies. Their initial analysis should be complete within a few weeks.