Representatives from a Canadian company visited Topeka, Kan., this week at the invitation of officials who wanted to learn how landfill trash can be turned into electricity.
Calgary-based AlterNRG's plasma gasification technology uses a process developed for NASA to superheat landfill garbage and convert it into a highly energized gas, which can then be used to produce electricity.
There’s no plan now to implement the technology in Kansas, but four Kansas lawmakers who met with AlterNRG on Monday said it’s the kind of innovation that Kansas — and the nation — must look at to supply energy for the future.
Officials from the company met with the lawmakers and Rod Bremby, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, as well as executives from Kansas City Power & Light and Deffenbaugh Recycling and Waste Management Services.
The meeting “really could be the start of something great for our state,” said state Rep. Ronnie Metsker, an Overland Park Republican.
The lawmakers said their constituents demand that they start looking at all options.
“There is a definite interest out there in talking about these issues and finding solutions,” said state Rep. Kay Wolf, a Prairie Village Republican. Rep. Terrie Huntington, a Fairway Republican and Sen. David Wysong, a Mission Hills Republican, also helped organize the meeting.
Plasma gasification can be applied to almost any waste now put in landfills, and it produces fewer carbon emissions than standard power plants that burn coal or natural gas.
Read the full story at kansascity.com.