45 MW Gasification Facility project in Costa Rica

A $140 million agreement to fund the first phase of a 45 MW gasification waste to energy facility located in Alajuela, Costa Rica has been agreed with Capital Corp Merchant Banking.

According to the back, the full project will eventually amount to an investment totalling $400 million.

The project consists of starting with a plant capable of generating 15 MW of electricity, after which it will build two additional plants each producing an additional 15 MW of electricity.

In 2010 the Costa Rican Ministry of Health ruled that municipalities would have to adopt sustainable and environmentally friendly means of processing municipal solid waste (MSW).

Capital Corp says that the planned facility has the capacity to divert 100% of waste from landfill, and once completed be able to handle 520,000 tons (472,000 tonnes) of gasifiable waste.

The low temperature gasification technology to be used in the plant comes from Australian renewable energy specialist, Entech Renewable Energy Solutions.

The result is a syn-gas which is relatively clean and available for immediate utilisation without further refining or treatment. This is fired to heat boilers produce steam which will then be used for electrical generation.

The project will play a major role in Costa Rica's effort to reach its ambitious goal of becoming the world's first carbon neutral country by 2021.

With first project and two anticipated similar projects of around the same size, the bank says that its client intends to contribute to the reduction in the country's carbon footprint by well over 4 million tons (3.63 million tonnes) of carbon or equivalent greenhouse gases over the next decade.

ZDROJ: http://www.waste-management-world.com, kráceno