Accordant Energy announces construction of advanced recycling and recovery facility

Accordant Energy LLC, Rutland, Vermont, announced March 7 that its licensee RePower South LLC, Spartansburg, South Carolina, has begun construction of its first advanced recycling and recovery facility, the Berkeley County Recycling and Recovery Facility, which will use Accordant’s patented ReEngineered Feedstock technology.

RePower South will develop the Berkeley County Recycling and Recovery Facility in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, using Accordant’s technologies to process 50 tons per hour of mixed municipal solid waste (MSW), recover recyclable materials for sale in commodities markets and produce a renewable solid fuel (ReEngineered Feedstock) from nonrecyclables. Recovered commodities from the plant will include aluminum, scrap metal, OCC, mixed paper, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which will improve recycling penetration in the plant’s service area.

Market demand for low-carbon, renewable solid fuels is expanding as businesses seek cleaner forms of energy for manufacturing processes and electricity generation. According to Accordant Energy, ReEngineered Feedstock meets these needs through the following competitive attributes:

• Low Carbon: As calculated using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Waste Reduction Model (WARM), each ton of ReEngineered Feedstock combusted results in a total reduction of approximately 2.5 metric tons of carbon equivalent (MTCO₂E) realized through the avoidance of landfill disposal.
• High Calorific Value: ReEngineered Feedstock has a higher heating value (HHV) approximating 10,000 British thermal units per pound, which is substantially greater than that of typical biomass (6,000 British thermal units per pound), and comparable to that of typical coal (12,000 British thermal units per pound).
• Customized Combustion Properties: ReEngineered Feedstock can be engineered for a variety of combustion applications and is designed to be physically and chemically designed to mimic the properties of coal. This allows for more effective cofiring applications in cement kilns and boilers than realized by biomass and other alternative fuels.
• Designation as a Nonhazardous Secondary Material: ReEngineered Feedstock holds a nonwaste fuel determination from the EPA, allowing regulatory benefits for its users

“The RPS team has decades of experience in the recycling, solid waste, energy, finance and construction industries, having built, owned and operated multiple recycling and solid waste companies,” Paula Calabrese, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Accordant, says. “We are confident this first commercial facility utilizing the Accordant technology will improve recycling performance and landfill diversion while providing a renewable solid fuel for cement kilns and utility and industrial boilers.”