Municipal wastewater, trash, manure and processing waste from livestock would be turned into energy at a massive, privately-funded facility that could provide a cheap, renewable supply of power, water and bio-diesel for Cowley County, says a local businessman who has pitched the idea to the county commission.
The facility would employ up to 1,500 people who would live on site with their families. On-site restaurants would serve organic dishes made with food produced at the facility.
And developers of the project expect no funding, subsidies or tax breaks from the government.
So here’s the catch: Joe Steiner and his partners have yet to produce a prototype facility, mostly because up-front construction costs would easily top $500 million.
"No one wants to be the first to try it," says Steiner, who has lived in Winfield for 40 years. "Everyone will want to be the second. But it will happen because it has to happen."
Tumbleweed Enterprises, Steiner’s company, is working with WaterSmart Environmental Inc., to secure funding and oversee construction of the facility.
The companies have not identified where in the county they would build but would need sufficient space for a three-story building that is one-kilometer by one kilometer.
The facility would have a giant 240-acre footprint.
Local government officials say they’ll wait and see how the project materializes because of funding issues and the current economic climate. Steiner says investors have expressed interest but a bank would need to guarantee any loan and so far none has stepped forward.
County manager Leroy Alsup says Steiner so far has only asked the county to produce a letter of support for the proposal. Beyond that, details about location, funding and a time line for construction are up in the air.
WaterSmart is looking at a number of sites worldwide and the county would like to hear from some who have already pledged support for such a project, Alsup says.
"We’re just watching how things develop right now," he says. "With no prototype and no funding in place, that’s really all we can do."
Alsup also points out that a facility like the one Steiner proposes would seem to need more waste to achieve its goals and might be better off built near a population center.
Steiner said his brother, Chuck Steiner, who lives near Kansas City, is the brains behind WaterSmart Environmental and the waste-to-energy technology. The company picked Cowley County because it’s close to where they both live and a good size, mostly typical community for a test site.
Joe Steiner spoke with NewsCow about the project and offered these details on the how the facility would work:
The first floor would be comprised only of pigs and tilapia fish. These animals would be doing what animals do ? eating, sleeping and most importantly ? pooping.
Their droppings would be fed into an anaerobic digester that would produce methane gas and carbon dioxide.
The digester will also be run with waste from the animal left over after slaughter. The company estimates it would process about 220,000 hogs every year. Some of that pork would be sold, some would be used at the facility.
Methane would fuel gas-powered turbines to produce electricity. Steiner says the facility would have a capacity of 100 megawatts ? half of which would power the facility and the other half of which could be sold.
He says the energy produced would more than provide for the needs of most or all of Cowley County on a typical day.
Carbon dioxide produced would be used to aid in the accelerated growth of spirulina algae that would be used to feed the pigs and tilapia, creating a renewable food source.
The digesting process would also produce solid aggregates that could be used to produce concrete. Much of that concrete would be used to construct additional buildings at the facility.
Company officials also expect to work with leaders of local government in attempt to pipe municipal wastewater ? water and solid waste from flushing toilets, showers and other household functions ? into the facility. With the wastewater, the facility can produce more energy products including bio-diesel and compressed natural gas, which could be sold.
Steiner says the company could produce "two-dollar a gallon" bio-diesel for sale to the public.
The byproduct of processing all that wastewater in clean, potable water, Steiner says. Water that the company would give free to cities and counties to use.
A letter to investors indicates additional building stories, where indoor farming would be made possible, are part of a second phase.
Steiner says the company would utilize non-recourse funding through investors and financial institutions.
Non-recourse funding is a type of financing that entitles the lender to repayment through collateral ? usually the buildings and facility itself ? if profits are not enough to achieve repayment of the loan.
If you’d like to read up on the technology and WaterSmart’s plans, click here.