Innovative waste-to-energy project profits community.In a new partnership, 13 municipalities in Argentina have agreed to send their refuse to an innovative waste treatment facility that will turn it into electricity, biodiesel, water, and animal feed. The communities, in turn, will receive half of the profits from sales of these goods. The collaboration aims to address the excess garbage problem in the region, help address Argentina's rising electricity demand, provide clean water, and create much-needed jobs and income for rural people, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Anne Usher of FUVAAL, an organization that promotes affordable housing in Latin America. WaterSmart Environmental, Inc., a provider of waste-to-renewable energy technologies, partnered with FUVAAL to develop the community-centered project in Argentina's Cordoba cor·do·ba n. See Table at currency. [American Spanish córdoba, after Francisco Fernández de Córdoba (1475?-1526?), Spanish explorer.] Noun 1. province. Government officials and volunteers from the 13 municipalities worked with WaterSmart to determine which of the many possible byproducts would be most beneficial for the region. The goods are first being offered to local residents and then sold outside the immediate area. The company is also training and employing local people to help operate the plant. In return for their garbage, the municipalities will receive 50 percent of the net profits, to be used for community projects. The undertaking is unique, Usher says, because it uses "responsible capitalism" and is about helping people and the environment while still earning sufficient profits. The pre-feasibility study indicates that even with the payments to the community, the project "provides a very healthy rate of return on investment, sufficient to satisfy most investor requirements." The technology behind the waste-to-energy process involves placing the trash in an anaerobic anaerobic /an·aer·o·bic/ (an?ah-ro´bik) 1. lacking molecular oxygen. 2. growing, living, or occurring in the absence of molecular oxygen; pertaining to an anaerobe. , or oxygen-free, digester di·gest·er n. 1. One that makes a digest. 2. Chemistry A vessel in which substances are softened or decomposed, usually for further processing. Noun 1. , which produces sand, potable potable /pot·a·ble/ (po´tah-b'l) fit to drink. po·ta·ble adj. Fit to drink; drinkable. potable fit to drink. water, and five gases. Through chemical bonding, the unpleasant odor typically associated with refuse (caused by one of the gases, hydrogen sulfide hydrogen sulfide, chemical compound, H2S, a colorless, extremely poisonous gas that has a very disagreeable odor, much like that of rotten eggs. It is slightly soluble in water and is soluble in carbon disulfide. ) is eliminated. The other gases will be used to create useful products. In the case of Cordoba, the community decided it would most like to use the technology to generate electricity, biodiesel, and spirulina spirulina Any cyanobacteria in the genus Spirulina. A traditional food source in parts of Africa and Mexico, spirulina is an exceptionally rich source of vitamins, minerals, and protein, and one of the few nonanimal sources of vitamin B12. , a high-protein microalgae useful in organic livestock cultivation. RELATED ARTICLE: Components of the Project * Processing plant for sorting out the ferrous metals and chopping the wastes * Anaerobic digester * Methane gas cleansing and compression * Electricity generator * Drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. membrane plant, processed from the permeate of the biowaste procedure * Photo-bioreactor to convert carbon dioxide carbon dioxide, chemical compound, CO2, a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is about one and one-half times as dense as air under ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure. to bio-diesel * Spirulina micro-algae which will be used as animal food * Liquefied nitrogen gas which will be sold to the metallurgical industry * Organic fertilizer * Aggregates which will be mixed with cement to produce housing panels * Organic pig farming, using the micro-algae as feed * Organic fish farming, using oxygen, carbon dioxide, and the micro-algae Source: WaterSmart Environmental press release |
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