Arecibo Resource Recovery Project

 Arecibo Resource Recovery Project
Energy Answers International, Inc., through its subsidiary, Energy Answers Arecibo, LLC, is
developing a 77 MW Resource Recovery Project to generate renewable energy and recover valuable
materials from 2,106 tons per day of Processed Refuse Fuel Fuel™ (PRF) produced from municipal
solid waste. The Project will be located in Barrio Cambalache, in the Municipality of Arecibo, Puerto
Rico on a “brownfield” site that formerly produced tissue and cardboard from recycled paper. In
addition to producing renewable energy, the Project will also recover ferrous and non-ferrous metals and
produce construction aggregate, sands and other building materials. It is expected to reduce the volume
of materials now going to local unlined landfills by at least 95%.
The Arecibo Resource Recovery Project will:
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Generate energy from renewable and alternative fuels;
Increase Puerto Rico’s recycling rates and capabilities;
Recover valuable materials for commercial reuse;
Reduce landfilling and its associated greenhouse gas emissions;
Redevelop an underutilized, previously impacted industrial “brownfield” site into a productive
reuse;
Employ directly more than 400 people during construction;
Create 150 permanent “green collar” jobs with opportunities for hundreds more; and
Complete all of the above at disposal rates lower than other compliant disposal facilities across
the Island and at energy sales rates below Puerto Rico’s current marginal power production cost.
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“Puerto Rico is still 35 miles by 100 miles. It isn’t growing…This waste‐to‐energy plant is part of the solution to handling our solid waste problem, along with increased waste reduction and recycling.” Environmental Quality Board President Pedro Nieves Miranda
By October 2014, most of the island’s landfills could be shuttered, with only the few able to meet federal operating standards expected to remain open, according to an order issued last fall by the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board (EQB). The economic and environmental challenges facing Puerto Rico today present a unique and immediate opportunity to implement a Resource Recovery Project that will provide a major stimulus for sustainable industrial and economic development on a world‐class scale. This project represents a significant private sector investment that will advance Puerto Rico’s economic recovery and job creation, while improving renewable energy production, fuel diversification, solid waste management infrastructure, greenhouse gas reduction, materials recovery and recycling, and overall quality of life. Energy Answers International
Arecibo Project
The order followed years of threats by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to close down Puerto Rico’s municipal trash sites because of shoddy management, substandard design and disappearing storage capability that has made them among the island’s greatest environmental threats, blamed for polluting underground water supplies and the air, and for devouring acres of precious land on this 100‐by‐35‐mile island, acreage that remains unfit for most activity even decades after closure. The local Solid Waste Management Authority (SWMA) says that unless something is done, Puerto Rico will run out of space to dispose of its trash by 2018. There are currently 28 landfills on the island, with four in the process of being closed. Most of the remaining landfills are expected to be shuttered over the next three years. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico’s recycling rate remains a miserably low 11.31%, despite a law calling for a 35% recycling rate by 2006, six years long past. Caribbean Business Review – June 28, 2012 P a g e |2
The Project represents a private sector investment of approximately $600 million in the construction of
world class, proven renewable energy and solid waste management infrastructure. Thousands of jobs
will be created during the 3-year construction period, plus 150 direct permanent jobs and opportunities
for hundreds of additional indirect and induced jobs when the project is in full operation.
Resource Recovery Facility Site
The Project site is located on approximately 90 acres in Barrio Cambalache, Municipality of Arecibo
where the Global Fibers Paper Mill operated until 1996. The Project will be constructed on
approximately 40 acres of the site and will include the waste receiving, waste processing, energy
recovery and ash processing operations.
PR Power
Authority Power
Plant
ARECIBO, PR
PROJECT SITE
Abandoned
Global Fibers
Paper Mill
Abandoned
Cambalache
Sugar Mill
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Battery
Recycling
Operation
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The Technology
The technology to be employed at the Project represents the next generation of Energy Answers’
Processed Refuse Fuel (PRF) technology, developed by Energy Answers to maximize the recovery of
renewable energy and marketable materials from municipal solid waste (MSW).
Waste Receiving and Fuel Production
The Project will utilize PRF derived from the post-consumer recycling MSW stream as its primary fuel
source. During PRF production certain materials will be extracted from the waste (ferrous metals and
other marketable materials) and the remainder will be shred into small particle sizes for efficient
combustion. All operations will take place indoors where dust and odor will be virtually eliminated. A
major advantage of shredding waste is that the shredding process substantially reduces the smell of raw
waste and instead produces material with an odor similar to damp leaves. In addition, vermin are not
attracted to the shredded material and the fuel produced can be combusted in suspension efficiently.
Power Production
Energy Answers’ patented power generation technology involves a semi-suspension combustion boiler
instead of the more traditional mass-burn combustion boiler. As with other solid fuels, it is recognized
that by reducing the fuel particulate size (i.e., pulverized coal, sawdust, etc.), the combustion efficiency
is increased and ash residue is decreased. Before the waste is fed into the boiler, it is shredded into small
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particles, thereby increasing the available surface area for combustion and increasing energy generation
and efficiency.
Processed Refuse Fuel Boiler
STEAM TO
TURBINE GENERATOR
Mass Burn Incineration
Combustion System
STEAM
COMBUSTION
GASES
COMBUSTION GASES TO
AIR QUALITY
CONTROL SYSTEM
FLY ASH
PRF
SUSPENSION
COMBUSTION
ZONE
LIGHT
COMBUSTIBLES
FLY ASH
CONDITIONING
OVERFIRE AIR
FLY ASH
HEAVY COMBUSTIBLES
& NON-COMBUSTIBLES
UNDERFIRE AIR
DRY BOTTOM ASH TO
ASH PROCESSING FACILTY
BOTTOM ASH
WATER QUENCH
Emissions Control
Energy Answers will treat, capture, monitor and control regulated air pollutants in the combustion flue
gases before venting to the atmosphere. This will be achieved using an air quality control system that
employs state-of-the-art technologies for removing particulate matter, acid gases, nitrogen oxides,
mercury and other regulated air pollutants. The air quality control system is guaranteed by the vendor to
meet or exceed the applicable air quality regulatory emission limits.
The Energy Answers Arecibo facility will have the lowest emissions of any facility in the United States
- EPA Region 2, May 23, 2012 Public Availability Secession.
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Residuals Management
Energy Answers' philosophy is to treat ash as a raw material for commercial products, not as a waste
material requiring disposal. Its PRF technology is designed for complete organics burnout and control of
temperature on the grate to prevent the melting of glass and most metals. The objective with regard to
the bottom ash is to create a dry, gravel-like material from which all materials can be recovered for
reuse. The bottom ash is processed with a proprietary technology developed by Energy Answers which
recovers ferrous and non-ferrous metals and produces Boiler Aggregate™, a material which has been
used for road pavement and in the production of concrete products. A separate and independent
processing system will be used to condition the fly ash for potential reuse.
Materials Recovered from the PRF System
The reference facility for the Arecibo Project is the SEMASS
Resource Recovery Facility which has been in successful
commercial operation since 1989, serving more than 50
communities in southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod.
The Energy Answers PRF technology is a proven and awardwinning Resource Recovery system which approaches total
recovery and zero-disposal. The Arecibo Resource Recovery
Facility will incorporate several key enhancements developed
during two decades of operating success at SEMASS.
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The Ecological Society of America awarded its 1996 Corporate Award for Resource Recycling to SEMASS, recognizing its “record of remarkable reduction of waste flow combined with environmental concern, done profitably and on a large regional scale.” Summary of Arecibo Resource Recovery -- Inputs and Outputs
Electric Capacity (Gross MW)
Electric Capacity (Net MW)
Low Pressure Steam for Industrial Tenants (lbs/hr)
Fuel Heat Content (Btu/lb)
Fuel – Processed Refuse Fuel (Tons/Day)
Average Annual Generation – 30 years (MWh)
Full Time Jobs Generated *
(direct, indirect, and induced)
Construction Jobs Generated*
(direct, indirect, and induced)
Construction Start Date
Commercial Operation Date
77 MW
68 MW
200,000
5,700
2,106
674,520
700
4,000
December 2012
December 2015
*These numbers reflect the direct jobs at the Project, the indirect jobs which are created as a
result of the Project’s requirements for goods and services from outside suppliers, contractors
and vendors and the induced jobs created through the overall increase in economic activity
within the region. They are based on a study prepared by Estudios Técnicos.
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For more information, contact:
Energy Answers International, Inc.
79 N. Pearl Street
Albany, New York 12207
ph: 518-434-1227 fx: 518-436-6343
www.energyanswers.com
Puerto Rico Project Office:
Atrium Business Center, Suite 229, 530 Constitution Avenue, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901-2304
Phone: 787-202-6212
Rev082112
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