Courtesy / Penobscot Energy Recovery Co.
Seen here is the new process line with a Terminator in the foreground.
Updated: October 3, 2019
PERC unveils multimillion-dollar waste processing system
Courtesy / Penobscot Energy Recovery Co.
Plant Manager Henry Lang, left, joins PERC owners Kevin Tritz, John Noer and Bob Knudsen at a ribbon-cutting for the company’s new waste processing system.
By Staff
Penobscot Energy Recovery Co., in Orrington, yesterday unveiled its new multimillion-dollar waste processing system.
The new system replaces older equipment and will streamline waste processing, use less energy and recover more metals, according to a news release.
“This new system represents an important evolutionary change in the way we process waste,” Plant Manager Henry Lang said in the release. “It allows us to utilize nearly 100% of the waste we receive from municipalities and commercial waste haulers, recycling it into steam and electricity and reducing even further the amount that ends up in the landfill.”
Synced with the Terminators
The improvements center on a new conveyor line that screens and delivers processed waste to the plant’s boilers. The conveyor replaces two older lines that date back to the plant’s original construction and were expensive to maintain.
The new process line works in combination with PERC’s slow-speed grinders, nicknamed "Terminators." The machines help create a more uniform fuel size, which makes combustion more efficient. If some of the waste is not properly sized, the new line easily sends it back to a Terminator for a second pass, enabling higher utilization of waste.
The Terminators also allow PERC to process oversized bulky wareste, such as carpet, tires, wood waste and other materials that waste facilities typically won’t take and that often go directly to a landfill. Unlike the plant’s original stationary grinders, the Terminators are mobile, and can be easily moved around the facility to allow easy maintenance and accommodate flexible processing modes.
PERC now has three Terminators and is planning to acquire a fourth soon.
The new processing line also uses much less electricity, and since PERC generates its own power, Lang says that means more of the plant’s output can be sold on the grid. In addition, a sophisticated new screen in the ash system allows PERC to recover more metals from the ash that remains after the waste-derived fuel is burned. The metals are then sold to a recycler.
Many of PERC’s 55 employees were directly involved in the design, construction and commissioning of the new processing system.
“Our team in second to none in terms of their ingenuity and commitment to environmental stewardship,” Lang said. “In addition to our employees, our strength has always been that our waste-to-energy technology works. These improvements will help us better serve our customers and operate more efficiently.”
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by state officials, area businesspeople and PERC’s owners, including representatives from several of the more than 40 communities the plant serves.
PERC purchased its first two $800,000 Terminators in 2018 to make the waste-to-energy firm more competitive after it lost up to two-thirds of its municipal solid waste contracts to Fiberight, a new waste processing and recycling facility in Hampden.
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