Company plans to turn trash to ethanol in Northern Nevada

One of the first commercial plants to turn garbage into ethanol will be making its home in Northern Nevada.

Fulcrum BioEnergy based out of California is planning to break ground next year on the $120 million project in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center in Storey County.

"Our process will be converting the trash to ethanol, and the ethanol will be delivered and used as transportation fuels in our cars and trucks in the Reno-Sparks area," Rick Barraza, the company's vice president, said.

The company says the plant will be able to handle 90 thousand tons of garbage a year and will produce more than ten million gallons of ethanol.

Barraza says the company does not know where the trash will come from to fuel the plant.

Fulcrum and industry experts say these new types of technology will benefit the environment.

"We're mitigating the need for new landfills. We're mitigating the need to expand existing landfills because we will be taking trash that would just be buried and using it in our process," Barraza said. He also said it helps reduce the country's independence on foreign oil.

Jason Geddes, the environmental services administrator with the City of Reno, says the Fulcrum plant and other projects will help Northern Nevada.

"All of our fuel has to come out of the Bay Area and get shipped up here through the pipeline for us to be able to use it. If we can generate a portion here, it makes us a little more self reliant and a little more sustainable on our transportation fleet," Geddes said.

The Fulcrum plant is expected to start construction next year, and they hope to be operational in 2011.

source: kmw