Waste-to-Energy Facility Comes to Tennessee

PHG Energy will provide Lebanon, Tennessee, with a downdraft gasification plant that will convert up to 64 tons of blended waste wood, scrap tires and sewer sludge per day into a gas fuel that will generate up to 300Kw of electricity.

The waste-to-energy plant is expected to keep more than 8,000 tons of material out of landfills each year; the electricity produced will provide for its own internal needs and will also contribute electricity to the wastewater treatment plant where it will be located.

The feedstock material is broken down at very high temperatures in a sealed vessel, and about 95 percent of what goes into the gasifier comes out as the fuel gas. The remaining 5 percent exiting the gasifier is a high-carbon biochar that can be recycled or sold for agricultural or industrial uses.

PHG Energy believes the project will be the world’s largest downdraft gasifier.

Funding of the $3.5 million capital cost has been obtained through a federal program that awards bond subsidies to local projects that conserve energy. Those Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds are allocated through the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), and repay communities about 70 percent of interest expense.

The Lebanon project will mark the 14th gasifier installation for PHG Energy.