Project turns waste streams into renewable energy - Portland Business Journal:

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Bend-based InEnTec and Houston-based Houston-base Waste Management (NYSE: WMI) have formed S4 LLC, whicgh will develop, operate and market InEnTec’s plasma gasification technology. The process feeds waste materials into aclosecd chamber, superheats it and turnsx it into an electricity-conducting gas calledf plasma. That heat rearranges the molecular structure ofthe waste, turninbg its organic materials into a cleanm synthetic gas product that can be convertex to transportation fuels such as diesel or natural gas. The initial focue of the joint venture will be to processw medical waste and other segregated commercial and industriaowaste streams.
In the future, it may also includr processing municipal solid waste once the technology has been prove n to be economical and scalablde forthat use. InEnTec CEO Jeff Surmaw now becomes president and CEOof . The join t venture aims to combineWaste Management’s expertise in collecting wasts streams with InEnTec’s technology. InEnTec is developing the firsgt commercial-scale plant to turn municipal wasteinto ethanol, to be locatedf outside Reno, Nev., as well as a plant in Michigan that would be the first commercial-scale plant to converty both hazardous and non-hazardous chemical materiak into clean fuels. “We see waste as a resource tobe recovered, and this joint venture ...
will help Wastew Management’s commercial and industriak customers maximize high energyt value waste streams to generate valuable renewable energy products based on theirf unique environmental andlogistical considerations,” Joe managing director at Waste Management, said in a news “With InEnTec, Waste Management has found a partnetr with a promising technology as well as strongf management, research and development capabilities to address the hurdles to implementing a new technology.
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