The Fiberight Facility
for the MRC Municipalities
Presented to the
Maine Joint Standing Committee
on Environmental and Natural Resources
8 April 2015
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
The MRC Mission
Ensure affordable, long-term,
and environmentally sound
disposal of MSW
• 187 towns from Mars Hill to
Boothbay Harbor having Waste
Disposal Agreements with
PERC through March 31, 2018
• Recorded deliveries of about
180,000 tons per year of MSW
2
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
3
The MRC Track Record
• 1991: MRC led renegotiation of Waste Disposal
Agreements to keep PERC open
• 1998: MRC extended Waste Disposal Agreements
and Power Purchase Agreement, and supported
refinancing, to keep PERC open through 2018
• 2004: MRC used right-of-first refusal to allow
current private partners to buy out prior owner.
• 1991 through today: MRC monitors PERC’s waste
supply, tip fees, operating costs, capital projects and
environmental compliance.
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
4
MSW recycling in MRC communities
1. When recycling rates increase, PERC
needs to import more MSW to run at
capacity: -310,000 tons/year capacity
vs.180,000 tons/year from MRC towns
2. MRC towns were penalized for MSW
delivery shortfalls in 2010
3. Significant amounts of recyclable
materials remain in the MSW sent for
disposal
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Why not continue with PERC after 2018?
• Towns want to increase recycling rates,
BUT increases in diversion cause PERC
to need more imported MSW to run at
capacity
• PERC economics change when the power
purchase agreement ends in 2018
• PERC is too big for central Maine and the
wrong technology for waste-to-energy
5
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
MRC Objectives for the Post-2018 System
 Achieve the MRC mission: affordable,
long-term, environmentally-sound MSW
management
 Encourage (and avoid disincentives for)
waste reduction and diversion
 Use emerging technology to make highvalue products
 Operate competitively without subsidies
6
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
7
The MRC Extension Efforts
• 2007: began partner meetings on extension
• 2009: Board voted to designate extension of
existing agreements with PERC after 2018 as the
preferred option
• 2009-2011: worked to understand facility
economics and options for down-sizing and
modification
• 2011-2013: PERC private partners propose abovemarket tip fees; indicate that facility might close;
and refuse to participate in technology search
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Problem with extension of the PERC deal:
the end of above-market electricity prices
would result in unacceptably high tip fees
MRC town Net Disposal Cost
(graph from 2011
MRC Annual Meeting)
PERC contract prices vs.
whole sale market prices
$140
$120
160.00
140.00
$100
120.00
$ per ton
ISO-NE Maine Zone LMP, $/MWh
180.00
100.00
80.00
$80
$60
60.00
$40
40.00
20.00
$20
$-
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
Jan-15
Sep-14
May-14
Jan-14
Sep-13
Jan-13
May-13
Sep-12
May-12
Jan-12
Sep-11
Jan-11
May-11
Sep-10
May-10
8
Jan-10
-
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
The key difference between the
PERC private owner approach and
the MRC approach
 PERC private owners want subsidies
and higher tip fees after 2018
 The MRC and towns wants more
recycling, new technology, higher-value
products, competitive tip fees – and no
subsidies
9
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
10
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Request for Expressions of Interest
15 responses received from August 2013
Responses present three levels of diversion
1. 10% to 20% with mixed waste processing
2. 30% to 50% by adding anaerobic digestion
3. 75% to 85% with advanced organics
processing
11
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Mixed-wasted processing: attractive concept if
the products are marketable and clean
12
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Waste Options, Nantucket, MA
13
MSW pelletized fuel, Vaughan, ON
Harvest Power, Buena Vista, FL;
Planned for Bourne, MA
Fiberight, Lawrenceville, VA;
Planned for Hampden, Maine
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Mixed waste composting:
high residuals, low-value product
14
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Central Florida Energy Garden, Buena Vista, Florida.
Photo from Harvest Power, Inc., used by permission.
15
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Large-scale anaerobic digestion for sourceseparated organics: the MRC would need to:
• Develop new infrastructure for source separation
from a multitude of sources
• Enforce source-separation, even in remote towns
• Manage residuals
• Manage digestate through land-application and
wastewater disposal
• Ramp up individual recycling programs
• Make the economics work
16
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Is there a better way to:
1. Accept MSW from existing generators and haulers
with minimal change in collection and delivery
patterns?
2. Recover high-value products from organics without
new infrastructure for source separation?
3. Encourage waste reduction and recycling on a
regional basis – and minimize residuals to landfills?
4. Operate at a scale appropriate to the MRC region
(150,000 to 200,000 tons per year)?
5. Make the economics work?
17
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Fiberight mixed-waste processing facility.
High-value products from mixed waste.
Bio-methane
Mixed MSW
PHS (clean
biomass fuel)
Recyclables
Clean
recycled
materials
18
Industrial
sugars
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
19
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Four processing modules
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Module
Function
Front-end
sorting
Remove textiles and bulky and nonprocessible items. Sort and recover
materials from pulped solids
Pulping,
washing and
heating
Convert waste to pulp. Separate solids for
sorting and processing. Separate soluble
from insoluble liquids (cellulose).
Enzymatic
hydrolysis unit
Process cellulose and insoluble organics
to sugars and post-hydrolysis solids (PHS)
Anaerobic
digestion unit
Process soluble organics into bio-methane
for CNG or RNG (renewable natural gas)
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Front end sorting. Lawrenceville, VA.
21
Photos by CRMC
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Washing tunnel for pulp production. Lawrenceville, VA.
22
Photo by CRMC
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Clean pulp and post-hydrolysis solids (PHS). Lawrenceville, VA.
23
Photos by CRMC
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Bio-methane
production
digestion bed.
Lawrenceville, VA.
Bio-refinery for
hydrolysis and
sugar production.
Lawrenceville, VA.
24
Photos by CRMC
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Hydrocarbons and carbohydrates
Hydrocarbons
• Crude oil
• Natural gas
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Petrochemical
building blocks
• Ethylene
• Propylene
• Butadiene
• Benzene
• Toluene
• Xylene
Refined fuels
•
•
•
Gasoline
Distillates
Residuals
Chemical
intermediates
Polymers
•
•
•
HDPE
PET
Etc.
CH4
EtOH
Carbohydrates
Industrial sugars
Converted using
biomass from
agriculture or wood,
or organics from
MSW
Consumer
and
industrial
products
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
26
Status of technology development
 Bench scale testing, USEPA review of PHS
product, residuals; buyer review of sugars
 Demonstration plant in Lawrenceville, VA, being
upgraded to commercial scale in 2015
 Commercial plant in Marion, IA, permitted with
construction start in spring 2016
 Strategic partnerships with technology
component suppliers and a large DBO firm
 Peer review completed by Forest Bioproducts
Research Institute at UMaine Orono
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Proposed site in Hampden, Maine
27
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Approach to business development
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Development
Agreement (signed by
the MRC in Feb. 2015)
MRC secures option on Hampden site
Fiberight develops facility
Development roles, tasks, and milestones
Site Lease and option
Permitted uses
Oversight roles
Obligations, default scenarios
Master Waste Supply
Agreement
MRC delivery obligations and GAT insulation
Define Acceptable Waste
Tip fees (~ $70/ton) and rebates (~$10+ /ton)
Municipal Joinder
Agreements
Exclusive delivery of MSW s.t. right to divert for
recycling programs
Allocation of MRC assets
The Fiberight Facility for the MRC Municipalities:
Presented to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources
Development timeline
2014
2015
2016
29
2017
2018
Select preferred vendor and technology (Fiberight)
Select site (Hampden industrial zone)
Negotiate Development Agreement
Have UMaine perform peer review of technology
Have initial meetings with Maine DEP
Apply for permits
Negotiate Site Lease and Waste Supply Agreements
Get Charter Municipality approvals
Acquire permits and financing
Complete development and begin construction
Enter commercial operation