Sewage-to-Fuel Operation Planned in Wabash Valley
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA California-based company has announced a plan to locate a sewage-to-diesel fuel facility in Terre Haute. Powerdyne Renewable Fuels says the project will create hundreds of temporary and permanent jobs. The operation would convert left-over sludge into fuel that would then be sold to a “large regional trucking firm.” Our partners at WTHI-TV report that company is Sodrel Fuels in Indianapolis. The city would act as a go-between, purchasing the fuel from Powerdyne and selling it to Sodrel at a premium.
The plant will take about two years to build. Powerdyne says the contract with the city is for 20 years.
Sources: Powerdyne Renewable Fuels and WTHI-TV
December 16, 2014
News Release
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Powerdyne Renewable Fuels (“Powerdyne”) www.powerdyne.com, a frontrunner in the national renewable fuel industry, announces it will be investing hundreds of millions of dollars to construct a Sewage-to-Diesel Fuel Facility in Terre Haute, IN which will create hundreds of new temporary and permanent jobs.
The City recently completed a multiyear expansion and retrofit of its entire wastewater treatment system. This upgrade is the largest public works project in the history of the City of Terre Haute, and necessary to accommodate the growing population both in the City of Terre Haute and the west central part of Indiana. The increased capacity brought about by the expansion of the wastewater treatment system will allow the City and regional municipalities to process in excess of 1 million gallons per day of this waste in an environmentally friendly manner not previously available.
Powerdyne has been engaged by the City to take the residual of the treated material known as dewatered sewage sludge, a semi-solid material that is produced as a by-product during treatment of wastewater, and convert it to diesel fuel. The City will then buy diesel fuel from Powerdyne over a 20 year period, which fuel has already been presold to a large regional trucking firm at a premium. The preselling of fuel will yield the City an additional $480,000 per year without any market risk.
In addition to the profits on the sale of fuel and creation of jobs, the City benefits from the Powerdyne fuel facility in other ways. First, the City will significantly lower its cost to transport its sludge, which currently goes to Kokomo, IN. Also, there is a large federal financial incentive to participate in renewable fuels. The City will receive 50 percent of the RINS (Renewable Identification Number System) which Powerdyne receives as part of the Federal reinvestment program administered by the EPA. At today's price, this would equate to approximately $3 million a year additional benefit to the City.
“Powerdyne's business model is all about turning waste product, a necessary but unpleasant reality, into something positive, sustaining and revenue generating,” Geoff Hirson, President of Powerdyne, said. “In Terre Haute, we are investing millions into the community and building a national standard that – because there are no out-of-pocket costs to the City – will become a true 'green' model for other cities seeking to deal with their sludge in a cost-effective, environmentally-friendly, emission-free way.”
Hirson reiterated that there would be no out-of-pocket costs to the City for this project, and that no City of Terre Haute employee would lose his/her job – in fact, hundreds of jobs will be added through the construction and operations of the Powerdyne facility.
Engineering and design of the fuel plant is under way at a cost to date in excess of $5 million. The facility is expected to be completed and operational in approximately 24 months.
Source: Powerdyne Renewable Fuels