S4 Energy Solutions plans Columbia Gorge project
S4 Energy Solutions LLC on Wednesday said it will start work this summer on a renewable energy project in the Columbia River Gorge that uses landfill waste to produce multiple fuel types.
Houston-based S4 is a joint venture formed in May between Bend-based InEnTec LLC and Waste Management Inc., the world’s largest solid waste company with about $12 billion in annual revenue.
The project, located at Waste Management’s Columbia Ridge Landfill in Arlington, will be the first developed by S4, which is working to commercialize InEnTec’s plasma gasification technology.
The technology involves superheating landfill waste using an electricity-conducting gas called plasma, which rearranges the waste’s molecular structure into a synthetic gas. The end product can be converted into transportation fuels such as diesel or ethanol, industrial products like hydrogen and methanol, or used as a natural gas substitute to fuel electric plants.
The company didn’t release the size of the investment.
S4 CEO Jeff Surma said the plant will be a pilot project the company will use to test the capabilities of the technology, including how much fuel and energy it can produce. The project is expected to create 28 jobs during construction and 16 full-time while operational.
The company hopes to market the technology to municipal solid waste departments and large industrial customers.
The new plant will join two other renewable energy projects on Waste Management’s 13,000 acres in Arlington.
Waste Management began generating electricity in January from a new plant at the landfill that uses methane gas captured from decomposing waste to fuel a 6-megawatt generator, which the company sells to Seattle-based utility Seattle City Light. The company’s property is also home to 67 windmills generating more than 100 megawatts of electricity, which is sold to Portland-based PacifiCorp.
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