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Little Palisade has a big idea
Staff Writer PALISADE - The little city of Palisade in northern Aitkin County - population 152 - has a big idea.
During the next several months, residents of the city and the area will be looking at the possibility of a plasma arc gasification plant in the city.
Plasma gasification, in the technical sense, uses ionized gas passed through an electrical current on par with lightning to create high temperatures to break down matter such as tires, metals or municipal solid waste.
Basically, and in the sense that Palisade is looking at it, it's a garbage incinerator that involves no combustion and with a similar level of emissions as generated from a natural gas oven.
What's left over from the plasma process, the remnants of the garbage, varies. If cooled with water, it can be an obsidian-like rock that can be broken down and sold for use as road aggregate. If it's cooled with air, what's left is a wool-like substance that can be sold for use as insulation.
Another benefit of the process is that the captured gases from the process can be used to create electricity, which could be sold to a utility or used for city purposes.
For members of the Palisade Plasma Arc Gasification Endeavor, the group that initiated a city-wide study on the plasma gasification process, the key is creating jobs.
"People are crying for jobs," said Palisade PAGE member Kelly Olson. "That really makes a big impact on the reasons why this is being put forward. If this fails, we're all committed to find something that will bring jobs to this area."
The decision to build such a plant in Palisade is only in the idea stage.
Until June, when a business plan is expected to be considered, the Palisade PAGE members are conducting what they call "Plasma 101," a series of informational meetings designed to answer questions from residents and study the possibility of such a plant in the city.
On Tuesday, more than 100 people crowded the Palisade School gymnasium for the second such meeting. The keynote speaker was Louis Circeo, director of the Plasma Applications Research Program at Georgia Tech University and a pioneer in the plasma technology field.
Circeo spoke of the numerous benefits of plasma gasification - its cost effectiveness; its potential to produce more energy than from solar, wind and other power resources. He said plasma gasification produces 30 times more energy than it uses.
"I guarantee you won't find another technology that has this big of an increase from input to output," he said.
But for Circeo, the No. 1 benefit would be reducing and eventually eliminating the solid waste that's placed in landfills.
"Who wants landfills anymore?" Circeo said. "Perhaps this is the only way possible to get rid of landfills around the country today."
There are only two operating plasma arc gasification plants in the world processing municipal solid waste, both in Japan. However, there are several proposed sites, including one in International Falls for the Boise Cascade paper mill.
"Things are just starting to heat up and I think that's wonderful," Circeo said of global interest in the plasma gasification process.
Reaction from those attending Tuesday's meeting was mixed.
Marv Holsten attended PAGE's first informational meeting in January with a lot of questions but received few answers. After hearing Circeo speak, he said he felt better about the plasma arc process.
"This guy knows what he's talking about," Holsten said. He said a plasma gasification plant may be a good thing "and I think it will be OK but there needs to be quite a few more meetings. We need to know where we'd put it, keeping it away from waters, and know how we're going to pay for it."
Betty Jo Johnson said she wants the concerns of residents addressed. Like Holsten, she said Circeo's presentation helped ease her concerns about plasma arc gasification.
"Sometimes people start running over you and they're going to put this in your backyard and I don't want this in my backyard maybe. But what (Circeo) is talking about sounds doable to me. It doesn't sound like it would create a whole bunch of problems," Johnson said. "It doesn't seem like it would be the bad thing I thought it would be."
Jackie Wagner remained unconvinced that a plasma gasification plant would be a benefit to the community. In fact, her concern is what danger such a plant could pose to her two children, both of whom are firefighters.
"I don't want it here," Jackie Wagner said, "and my concern is they can't find any independent, non-biased information that can tell you the cons of this.
"We're a small town - a hunting, fishing, vacation place. It seems like the places where they're putting them in are in towns that really need money."
Jackie Wagner said they plan on paying tons of money and creating tons of jobs but those jobs go to people with engineering degrees.
If this project is so great, Jackie Wagner asked, why aren't there thousands of them?
It's not the first time a plasma arc gasification plant has been proposed in Aitkin County.
Two years ago Aitkin community members and public officials worked with a private developer to build an industrial park that would be the home of a plasma gasification plant and other related industries. Committees were formed, studies done and finances were worked.
"We said 'Why not?'" said Ross Wagner, Aitkin County Economic Development and Forest Industry coordinator. "If it's going to spread out, why not here? Why not have us get the jobs?"
Then controversy set in, Ross Wagner said. There was opposition to the zoning needed for the plant site and community members felt their voices weren't being heard. The private developer eventually dropped out.
"So we walked away, pulled the plug, whatever," Ross Wagner said. "We learned that before you can really start talking about what do we feel comfortable with here we need to first be comfortable with the technology."
It's a mistake Palisade PAGE intends to not make through their series of community informational meetings.
JoLynn Kullhelm, Palisade PAGE member, said her group is working off the interest generated by the Aitkin project. She said one struggle with the plasma technology, and the obstacle with the Aitkin project, was getting a general acceptance that plasma operations do not create pollution but in fact reduce it by removing trash from landfills.
Above all, Kullhelm said the people of Palisade and the area need to be involved in the entire process.
"If the community isn't behind it, if they don't support it, we could do a lot of leg work and write a really nice business plan and they will shut it down," Kullhelm said. "I really think we need to take a community-focused approach and get the community informed and get answers to the questions they have so they can make an informed decision, and say, 'Yes we'd like it in Palisade,' or, 'No we wouldn't.' That's what is happening here."
Getting people over their fears of plasma gasification also is important, Olson said.
Future meetings will focus on the waste used and the end products, safety and the environment and on a business plan. Palisade PAGE also intends to take field trips to Phoenix Solutions in Hutchinson, which in 2008 received a $150,000 grant to develop plasma arc gasification technology.
Ross Wagner remains hopeful a plasma arc gasification plant can be a viable industry in Minnesota. He pointed to the waste burner in Minneapolis next to Target Field as the best example of using garbage to create energy. Plasma gasification, he said, shows more promise because it creates less emissions.
"What do you do with waste? Rather than just burying, if you can convert it to energy it's a win-win," Ross Wagner said. "Plasma gasification has a tremendous potential for economic development. The green jobs, that's what they're looking for.
"What's happening in Palisade will be interesting, to say the least."
MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.
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