Former Landfill Eyed For Ethanol Producing Facility

WOODBINE — With a $98,000 Rural Business Enterprise Grant check in the bank from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this borough should have enough funds to cap its former 47-acre landfill.
Once that long-unused facility on Fidler Hill Road is capped, a multi-million enterprise is planned to produce ethanol from algae. A prototype of that operation was the focus of a tour on Thur., Aug. 26 by a bevy of local, state and federal officials.
After a ceremony at Borough Hall, during which Howard Henderson, USDA Rural Development state director presented an over-sized grant check to Mayor William Pikolycky, the delegation traveled down Washington Avenue to the former Gentilini Ford showroom where Andrew Greene, president of Garden State Ethanol explained the conglomeration of vats and meters.
There, where Explorers and F150s once were serviced, are six units known as bioreactors containing some 500 gallons of algae-laden liquid that, through a natural process, eventually winds up as a usable alternative fuel.
Garden State Ethanol is working in concert with Rowan University to hone the process that is using technology from a Midwest based firm.
If all goes as planned, and permits are in hand, the venture could produce biofuel not from corn, but from algae.
Henderson noted one of the aims of the grant is to create jobs as well as to upgrade the overall life of local people.
Since the advent of the county Municipal Utilities Authority’s Sanitary Landfill, all local landfills, such as the one off Fidler Hill Road, are no longer used. However, they need to be secured in a fashion that will allow other uses.
One of the studies to be done prior to any construction of an ethanol plant on the landfill is the degree to which groundwater has been tainted by that former use.
Should all go according to projections, it is expected that the plan could produce about 25 million gallons of ethanol and 10 million gallons of biodiesel per year.
The firm made application to the Pinelands Commission in 2009 for the plant.
At that time, it was projected the cost of the plant would be $81.3 million.
Ethanol is a type of alcohol that is used as an automotive fuel additive. Part of the plan includes shipping the ethanol and biodiesel via rail, located nearby, to a blending facility along the Delaware River.
One of the challenges of the project is the need for a large volume of water to produce ethanol. It is estimated that about 114 million gallons of water will be used to make 25 million gallons of ethanol annually. About 80 percent of that water will be obtained from the Woodbine Developmental Center and the borough’s wastewater treatment plant. The remaining 20 percent will be derived from the municipal water system, according to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance.
Contact Campbell at (609) 886-8600 Ext 28 or at: al.c@cmcherald.com