The president of a company looking to open and operate a state-of-the-art processing plant in Merritt that would break down biosolids into environmentally-friendly and profitable byproducts is considering halting negotiations and accepting an offer from the District of Hope to build the plant.
Last September, Kevin Hull, the president and CEO of Emergent Waste Solutions, met with Merritt city council, representatives from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) and five area First Nations bands to discuss his plan to operate a processing plant in Merritt.
Using new technology called Advanced Pyrolysis System (APS), Emergent Waste Solutions continues to work diligently to try and land a contract with Metro Vancouver to dispose of the entirety of that city’s sewer sludge — more commonly known as biosolids, said Hull.
Hull told the Herald his preferred location for his pyrolysis plant remains Merritt. However, there hasn’t been any significant progress from the various local stakeholders, he said.
Meanwhile, Hope has stepped up and offered to become full and equal partners and would help him finance a significant portion of building the plant, said Hull.
“I have to be honest and tell you that I’m weighing an offer from Hope,” he said. “All of the stakeholders there appear to be lined up and on board. Unlike in Merritt, where there doesn’t appear [to be] any willingness at the present time to say we should go ahead with this project.
“I want to say that I’ve had really good support from the Mayor (Neil) Menard in Merritt and guys like Randy Murray (regional representative on the TNRD) and many members of the community, but we’re not at the point where we have a site or land set aside for the project, but we are very close to having that commitment from Hope.”
If Hull signs the deal to build his plant in Hope, he would still be open to handling all biosolids produced from the City of Merritt and surrounding area.
Hull said a pyrolysis plant he is building with business partners in Vegreville, Alta. is only weeks away from opening, so he invited Menard to view the facility and Menard took him up on that offer a few weeks ago.
Menard said he was very impressed with what he saw and he’s convinced the technology Hull’s company is using can revolutionize the industry.
“When I first met Mr. Hull last September, I was very impressed then and I remain very impressed now,” he said. “He’s very knowledgeable, and I believe in what his company is doing.”
Menard agreed that discussions to proceed with Hull’s project in Merritt have bogged down and he fully understands why he’s looking at other options, including the one to build the plant in Hope instead.
“You can’t blame him. Sometimes in business, you snooze and you lose,” he said.
The waste tyre pyrolysis plant in Vegreville he visited uses rubber pellets produced from old tires to produce environmentally-friendly byproducts and the same technology would be used to break down biosolids in B.C., said Menard.
Hull said his plant project could proceed without a contract with Metro Vancouver, but his preference would be to finalize a deal with Canada’s third-largest city.
He has presented city officials in Vancouver with close to a dozen peer-reviewed scientific studies that confirm APS works, but they have been hesitant to show any committed support, which is very frustrating, said Hull.
The APS technology uses extreme heat — minus any oxygen — to break down biosolids into marketable and environmentally-friendly byproducts, he said.
“It removes all pathogens and well over 95 per cent of pharmaceutical agents,” he said.
The biosolids are converted into gas, which is scrubbed and filtered, and then re-used to provide power to the plant, he said.
Hull said he will continue to push for Metro Vancouver and other municipalities to warm up to his technology.
“Instead of spreading it on land and having it filter into the food chain and aquifers, they could ship it to our plant and have it processed in a safe manner and produce byproducts that are profitable and friendly to the environment,” he said. “It would be a win-win scenario.”
Article source: http://www.merrittherald.com/merritt-may-lose-biosolids-processing-plant-to-hope/.