Barr-Tech offers green alternative to landfill

Larry Condon of the Barr-Tech regional waste-management facility on the eastern edge of Lincoln County gives much of the credit for the success of the startup business to the Odessa Public Development Authority (OPDA). “It was a great team effort – everybody worked together,” said Condon, referring to not only the OPDA but the Lincoln County Economic Development Council (EDC), Lincoln County in general and the communities of Sprague, Davenport, Reardan and Odessa. “Lincoln County (as a whole) was outstanding to work with,” said Condon.

The site itself is owned by the OPDA, which leases it to Barr-Tech, LLC.

Barr-Tech employs approximately 12 people, who come from around the area. The site location, off I-90 at the Fishtrap exit, makes for a long commute from many Lincoln County communities. Condon also noted that the labor pool in smaller communities tends to be limited.

The inspiration for the facility came when the city of Spokane put out a call for a more environmentally friendly and cost efficient waste disposal plan. Prior to Barr-Tech’s opening, eastern Washington communities often had to haul waste anywhere from 60 to nearly 500 miles round trip.

It took approximately 2 years of working with the various entities to get the project started, according to Condon.

In a summer 2009 synopsis of the company, Barr-Tech laid out the following plans for the site:

n A high-solids anaerobic digester that will process food waste to produce methane.

n Two Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units that will convert the methane into 1.94 megawatts (MW) of continuous renewable energy to be fed back into the electrical grid.

n Raceway algae ponds that will be fed by the liquid runoff, heat and the carbon dioxide from the composting facility. The algae will be harvested, crushed and the oil will be sold to a biodiesel refinery 20 miles from the facility.

n Greenhouses that will use the heat and carbon dioxide from the digester, CHP and compost systems to grow organic fruits and vegetables.

Condon says that the anaerobic digester is still in the works, and that they are currently working on various components of the system, such as power supply and infrastructure. It is hoped that the digester and CHP units will be on line by spring/summer of 2012.

The plans for the raceway algae ponds have had to be scratched, as there is no one in the area with the technology to process algae into biofuel.

The plans for the greenhouses have also changed, according to Condon. The composting facility generates plenty of heat and CO2 for the greenhouses, but Condon hopes to use those benefits to attract other synergistic companies to the site, instead of the greenhouses being a part of Barr-Tech itself. He says that the company is currently negotiating with a solar power firm, and hopes to attract a greenhouse facility soon.

Barr-Tech receives solid waste from multiple entities throughout the region, which they convert to compost, using a method called aerated static pile composting. They have two types of end products, organic/organic and inorganic/organic. Organic/organic is the result of composting yard debris. Inorganic/organic includes waste from other sources, including biosolids from water treatment facilities. Condon said that all compost is tested for pH, contaminants, bio-contaminants and metals. Some testing is done on site, but most is sent out to labs in Spokane and Moses Lake. All of the compost is safe to use on food crops, according to Condon.

Most of the waste is received from the city of Spokane, Spokane County and Lincoln County communities. Prior to the facility becoming operational, Odessa hauled the biosolids from the water treatment facility to Mansfield. Savings in fuel and manpower are significant. Also, according to Condon, fees for disposal at the facility are considerably lower than at other disposal sites.

The facility is qualified to handle all four categories of solid waste. Category 1 is yard debris, such as grass clippings. Category 2 is food waste, category 3 includes biosolids from water treatment facilities and category 4 includes industrial waste, such as sawdust and cardboard.

Condon says that the process is the same for each category, but that the category 1 materials are kept separate from the others.

When trucks bring in waste, it first goes into the “pre-pile”. From there it goes through a massive industrial grinder and mixed according to a “recipe” of components which expedites the composting process and ensures consistency of the end product.

The material is then hydrated and built into “zones” where it remains for a total of 45 days, rotated 3 times at 15 day intervals. During this period the piles heat up to an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

Condon says they are selling all the compost they are producing, although he notes that they’ve only been operational for six months. Bagged compost for the home market is no longer on the plan at this time, but may be revisited in the future. In the meantime, the company will remain focused on the bulk market. Compost is available in amounts ranging from a pickup load (approximately one cubic yard) up to semi truck loads. Currently most customers are landscape firms, but Condon hopes to attract more farm businesses, especially dryland farmers. According to Condon, compost can be a cost-effective additive for dryland farmers, adding not only nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium to the soil, but also improving soils moisture retention. He hopes to meet with ag groups and local farmers in the near future to sell them on the benefits of his product.