News : Fiberight CEO hopes to begin turning trash into ethanol in 2014 near Blairstown

Imagine a place powered by garbage, that makes fuel for your car from the things you throw away in your kitchen – and even from the nasty things in your baby’s diaper.

That’s the world that Craig Stuart-Paul imagines – and it’s the world he has been trying to bring Benton County into for the past three years.

Stuart-Paul is the CEO of Fiberight, which owns the former ethanol plant southeast of Blairstown. He, along with Fiberight employees Brian Ryerson and Danny Viall, gave the Benton County supervisors a progress update this morning.

So far, said Stuart-Paul, Fiberight has spent more than $21 million on the ethanol plant in Benton County as well as its demonstration facility in Virginia. A group of private investors as well as state and federal funds have covered all the costs; Stuart-Paul said there would be no costs for Benton County in developing the business.

Work will begin this year, said the CEO, who hopes to begin turning trash into ethanol next spring.

One of the changes that has taken place since Stuart-Paul began discussing the project in 2010 is that in addition to making fuel out of the organic waste material, Fiberight has also become a state-recognized recycling facility.

The Fiberight system uses a method of sorting, washing and pasteurizing curb-side garbage in an enclosed environment that keeps the odor of trash minimized and inside. Stuart-Paul invited the supervisors to visit the Virginia demonstration plant to smell for themselves. He also promised that any odor from the Blairstown facility would be significantly less than that emitted by the 1,100 cows in the livestock operation near Fiberight.

Stuart-Paul told the supervisors and Engineer Myron Parizek, who supervises the landfill, that his company would offer the county “the most favorable rates” for garbage taken to Fiberight instead of the landfill. A rebate program is also possible is prices of recyclable materials are strong, he said.

There are still many details to work out, but many of the contracts are in place or in negotiations. Fiberight is also working with the city of Marion on a facility for sorting waste.

The company has a goal of processing 350 tons of garbage into recyclables and ethanol every day. The Benton County landfill accepts an average of 50 tons per day.

The organic materials in garbage can be converted into compressed natural gas that can run the processing plant and the also fuel the trucks that haul the garbage, said Stuart-Paul. And since water makes up 20 percent of the weight of garbage, the facility will use virtually no water.

While discussing the options Fiberight presents for future garbage, Benton County still has to face the cost of maintaining its landfill, as well as potential closing expenditures as the landfill reaches its capacity – which is estimated to take place around the year 2017.

'Too good to be true'

Stuart acknowledged that the idea of turning trash into fuel without emitting the odor of trash seems "too good to be true." -- and supervisor Don Frese also used that phrase. The company has published a video of how its demonstration plant works. See that video HERE.

"That's why we built the demonstration plant," said Stuart-Paul.

Another issue raised by County Attorney Dave Thompson is the past failures of others who have promised to make ethanol at that facility.

Stuart-Paul said he is well aware of the history of the facility, but said, "We can make the economics work. We can make the environmentals work."

See a 2010 Vinton Today story about Fiberight HERE.