Bioreactor would provide energy for Columbia

By Grace Clarke

Published April 24, 2007

Columbia is one step closer to being the home of Missouri's first bioreactor landfill thanks to Sen. Kevin Engler, R-Farmington. If the city houses a bioreactor, it would be only one of 14 in the U.S.

Engler proposed a bill that "permits yard waste to be deposited into solid waste disposal areas that have been approved by the Department of Natural Resources for use as bioreactors."

The creation of a bioreactor in Columbia has been in the works since December 2005 when former City Manager Ray Beck made the initial proposal. The Columbia landfill, located in the northeastern part of the city, consists of three individual cells and accepts an average of 600 tons of trash per day. Construction on the fourth cell, which is the only bioreactor cell, is underway and has a projected opening date of August 28.

A bioreactor landfill differs in one fundamental way from traditional landfills.

"Right now, we mostly use a dry tomb method, which keeps as much moisture out as possible," Department of Natural Resources spokesman Matt Easley said. "The bioreactor purposefully introduces moisture into the waste to make it decompose faster. As solid waste decomposes, it releases methane gas that can be captured and burned for energy."

Connie Kacprowicz, Columbia Water and Light Department spokeswoman, also has a positive outlook.

"This is a great project for the city as far as looking toward renewable energy," Kacprowicz said. "The nice thing about the landfill is that it's a constant source of energy — that energy being trash. The landfill gas project here is going to be able to produce 2.1 megawatts of electricity, which equates to 1.5 percent of our energy usage per year."

Benefits can already be seen around the state. A similar biomass project in Jefferson City is producing 3.1 megawatts of electricity, which translates to 2 percent of its annual energy needs.

The bioreactor pilot program is a follow-up to the Shingle Recovery Project implemented in June 2006. In response to last spring and summer's hail and rain storms, the city began a six-month campaign to collect damaged shingles to be recycled into asphalt.

Despite successful legislation and support from natural resource advocates, some activists have reservations about the new landfill.

"I certainly have concerns about landfills and hazardous waste," said Kay Drey, Missouri resident and leader of the grass-roots opposition to waste sites. "I've been fighting nuclear power and radioactive waste for more than 30 years. The waste just isn't going to stay in the sites."

Drey and her husband, Leo, have been instrumental in preserving natural resources — purchasing 160,000 acres in the Ozarks alone — more than any other private landowner in Missouri.

Drey worries for the neighborhoods near the landfill site.

"There's going to be transportation through their neighborhoods, and there are some smells as well," she said. "Municipal waste is supposed to be non-hazardous solid waste, but even that has some hazardous materials dumped in."

But Columbia Water and Light has hope for economic gain.

"According to renewal ordinance, (methane from the bioreactor) cannot be over 3 percent more expensive than the electricity that we use now," Kacprowicz said. "The gas project is not completed yet, so that's an estimate, but in the future, we can definitely expect some economic benefit."