EcoPlus Inc (ECPL)

[Dragonwing]

Deal to cut fat at Berkeley plant

Company to convert brown grease into fuel

By Katy Stech The Post and Courier

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Drips of fatty, brown grease that is washed off plates in restaurant kitchens clump together and float in tanks in Berkeley County's main wastewater treatment plant.

The sludge coats the pipes, sometimes to the point of clogging, and it clings to the disinfecting ultraviolet lights to the point that they need constant cleaning.

"It's a waste product that wherever you put it, it slimes and goos everything up," said Micah Miley, director of engineering for the county's Water and Sanitation Authority.

That's a problem that a North Carolina company says it can fix.

EcoPlus Inc. recently worked out a deal with Berkeley County officials to take the grease to a nearby facility, where it will convert the sludge into fuel that power companies can buy and burn in their coal-fired electricity plants.

The company's plan, announced last summer, advanced earlier this year when the two groups agreed on a location for the new facility: 2 acres at the county's landfill near U.S. Highway 52 and Oakley Road. The plant, which would employ between 15 and 20 people, could open by the end of the year, said Phil Hicks, president of EcoPlus. Financing is being arranged for the estimated $4 million project.

The company's conversion process involves adding chemicals and mixing the liquids for certain periods of time, producing a grainy sand that power companies can mix with coal.

"Are we the answer to energy independence?" Hicks said. "No, we can't produce enough energy to do that ... but we're part of the answer."

Hicks said he's looking to expand globally. For now, the company operates one plant near its Charlotte headquarters. He added his company is negotiating with power utilities across the Southeast to buy the product.

"Power companies love the product because it doesn't require them to do anything differently, and it's much cleaner than what they're currently burning," he said.

Berkeley County encouraged the facility by offering to lease its land for a below-market price. And authority officials say they're looking forward to diverting the brown grease to the new facility.

"The only reason we take it is because nobody else takes it," said Colin Martin, the agency's executive director. "If we weren't here, the cost would drive those tanker trucks into dumping, or more of it would end up in the sewer system, where we don't want it."

Reach Katy Stech at [e-mail].
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/mar/20/deal-to-cut-fat-at-berkeley-plant/