Plans by Koochiching County to build a gasification facility which would use a plasma arc torch to vaporize garbage and other waste in order to produce energy is being scrutinized by environmental advocates since the facility would be a neighbor to Voyageurs National Park.
The International Falls Daily Journal has a story about the project HERE.
According to the project’s web site, HERE, the facility, called the Renewable Clean Air Project (RECAP) would be the first of its kind built in North America.
The gasification process using “a very high temperature process operating in an oxygen deprived vessel, converts organic compounds into their basic components of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. These two main constituent gasses can be refined to produce pure hydrogen, biodiesel, alcohol for E-85 production, or an industrial gas similar to propane.”
The Voyageurs National Park Association recently met with RECAP proponents and the Koochiching County Economic Development Authority to better understand the ramifications of the process. VNPA is concerned about emissions from the proposed facility and what they would mean for air quality in Voyageurs National Park, a Class I protected area under the federal Clean Air Act.