ICM builds biomass plant in California

Colwich-based ICM has joined with another company to build a demonstration-size biomass gasification plant in San Jose, Calif.

The plant will be built by JUM Global, using ICM’s technology, at the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility. It will process up to 10 tons a day of storm debris, yard waste, tree trimmings, construction and demolition materials, blended with a small amount of dried biosolids from the sewage plant. The unit will be used to show how biomass can be used to produce synthetic fuel for automobiles.

It’s being built with funding from the state of California and local governments with some contributed material and time from ICM and JUM Global.

“In one sense we are starting to lay the ground work for moving into fuels with this technology and show that we can work with a variety of feedstocks,” said Jon Orr, Capital Sales Manager with ICM’s Gasification Group.

The project is set for completion by the end of April.

ICM is known for its large presence in designing and managing ethanol plants across the country and the world. It has only dipped a toe into gasification, a technology that converts various waste products, from wood chips to tires to plastic, into gases or liquids that can be combusted to produce steam, electricity or synthetic fuel for automobiles.

The prime market for such plants are densely populated areas, such as California, where space for burying waste is expensive, the cost of electricity is high and there may be a willingness to pay for environmentally friendly solutions.

The company built a demonstration gasification plant in 2009 at the former Harvey County landfill and operated it for almost four years.

Since then, the company has knocked on doors to pitch the idea that gasification plants are a good idea. But the cost to build and operate them often remains high relative to alternatives such as natural gas, so there have been no projects, yet. But, Orr said, the interest level is higher than ever.

One new niche where they are getting quite a bit of interest, he said, is a plant to consume dead trees and fallen branches in forests. Such a plant would remove the material that makes forest fires increasingly dangerous.

ICM believes in the gasification business for the long term, Orr said. The idea is to keep developing the technology and find those places where the economics make sense without subsidies.

“This the first, but the intention is to keep making the business case where it makes sense, and grow the business,” he said.

This story was originally published March 11, 2015 at 2:09 PM with the headline "ICM builds biomass plant in California."