Akron Beacon Journal.Global American Energy Holding, a Missouri company, wants to build a $75 million trash-to-ethanol plant that it says will be the first of its kind in the country.

The company has signed an agreement with the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority to issue as much as $75 million in bonds to build the plant.

The state agency could provide $55 million for equipment and an additional $20 million for engineering, support and contingency funding, Director Mark Shanahan said.

Although there are no production trash-to-ethanol facilities in the US, the approach has been talked about for years. The company closest actually to having a production plant operational is Masada Oxynol, which is working to put a plant online in Middletown, NY. The problem is that is has been working to put that plant online for several years now, slowed by permitting issues and local activism. Another company that has spent years tilling this particular field is Arkenol.

Conversion Technologies (CT) for municipal solid waste are of increasing importance just from a waste management point of view. So much the better to get an energy benefit from it. The lifecycle and energy dynamics are complex, and there are a number of different conversion technologies for handling waste.

The California Integrated Waste Management Board has put together a useful summary of CT for anyone interested. Technology review is here. Conversion and Biomass to Energy home page is here.