Southwestern Manitoba Zero Waste System

The Rural Municipality of Minto-Odanah will conduct a pilot project to divert the majority of their municipal solid waste (MSW) stream into a modular gasification unit which will convert the waste into a clean-burning gas, called syngas. By-products of gasification include aluminum, steel, glass and ash which are recovered as scrap metal, or converted into materials such as road aggregate. The municipal waste diversion rate for Minto-Odanah is currently just over 50 percent, and the pilot would increase it to nearly 95 percent, diverting more than 2,000 additional tonnes of MSW per year. Minto-Odanah is currently transporting most of their waste to a regional landfill site east of Minnedosa, which also accepts MSW waste from six neighboring municipalities. Licences for small landfill facilities, which are nearing capacity, are not being renewed as they expire. This forces rural communities to haul their MSW long distances to the central landfill. For the purposes of the pilot project, the modular gasification unit will be located at the central landfill for testing and evaluation. The municipality’s long term plan would be to situate several modular gasification units at smaller landfill sites throughout the region, which would lower greenhouse gas emissions by reducing truck traffic as well as extending the lifespan of the local and regional landfill. The system being proposed is ideally suited to small landfill sites because it is modular and built within a standard shipping container, with site preparation limited to a level area with compacted gravel for the shipping container to rest on. The pilot project will also incorporate testing of an in-vessel composting system to process large amounts of hog hair (up to five tonnes/day), which is currently being buried in pits near the central landfill. Projected greenhouse gas reductions are derived from the comparison of the amount of methane organic components of the MSW waste stream would generate if landfilled versus the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent generated from the production of syngas. As the central focus of the pilot project, consultants will measure the effects of various feedstock and municipal solid waste compositions on gas production over a period of one and half years. Greenhouse gas emissions and criteria air contaminant testing will be conducted independently by the engineering department at the University of Manitoba. Prototypes of the gasifiers have already been tested in Alaska, and met the Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards. The syngas produced by the process can be used to power the generator for the gasification process or divert heat to buildings, greenhouses, or other spin-off industries. However, for the purposes of this pilot project, it will be vented or flared. In a second phase of the pilot outside of the scope of this application, project partners anticipate using the syngas to power the gasification generator or fuel the compaction of recyclables at the central landfill. The pilot is a main priority in the latest strategic plan from the Southwest Regional Development Corporation which promotes economic development in Southwest Manitoba. From a technological standpoint, the system is innovative in that it can process unsorted MSW, while other gasification systems are targeted toward a specific waste stream. The system has the potential to be replicated in other rural or remote municipalities, and has generated interest from over 45 municipalities in Manitoba. It also offers significant knowledge value as an interdisciplinary collaboration between regional policy makers, technology developers, and members of the academic community. (Project description from original funding applicaiton)