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Denver Zoo waste to energy project gains power

May 25, 2015
8:52 PM MST

http://www.examiner.com/article/denver-zoo-waste-to-energy-project-gains-power

Students work on a mini-gasification system at the Denver Zoo. The zoo is installing equipment so the full-scale biomass gasification system can help power the zoo, perhaps later in 2015.

Courtesy of the Denver Zoo

The Denver Zoo has begun installing equipment for its unique waste-to-energy facility near Toyota Elephant Passage, on the south end of the zoo. Jennifer Hale, director of safety and sustainability, anticipates completion in late 2015 or early 2016.

"We're in new territory," Hale said. The biomass gasification system was designed in-house and is one of a kind, said Hale. The system has been 10 years in the planning and permits processes.

All permits have been received. Still, not everyone is pleased. A real estate broker and member of the nonprofit City Park Friends and Neighbors group has protested the project as untested, and objected to its appearance. Columnist Vincent Carroll of the Denver Post called it a wart at the Denver Zoo.

The professional engineering group ASHRAE said the program will convert 90 percent of the zoo's waste, from trash to animal waste to clean, sustainable energy. The biomass gasification system chemically converts the waste using a high-temperature, low-oxygen process into a usable combustible gas. It anticipates the system will meet 20 percent of the zoo's energy needs.

Denver Zoo has been working with neighboring groups to address concerns, Hale said. It has spent $700,000 on improvements along its southern perimeter that included the dredging of Duck Lake. It has spent $700,000 on improvements along its southern perimeter that included the dredging of Duck Lake.