In August of 1988, the waste-to-energy (WTE) plant began processing municipal solid waste (MSW) using two 40-ton-per-day mass burn-starved air-type waste combustors. The facility has operated without major incident since its startup, and within permitted limitations of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
(MPCA), and has processed over 763,000 tons of MSW from 1988 to present.
In 1996, the Materials Removal Facility (MRF) was installed and the upfront separation of MSW was started, removing recyclable materials as well as non-burnable or objectionable items. The MRF has processed over 30,120 tons of recyclable items from 1996 to present.
How It Works
Initially the Waste-to-Energy plant operated as expected with only minor operational changes being incorporated. This facility operates two RDF burn starved air type waste combustors and burns 77 tons per day. Hydraulic powered ash plows are used to move the material through the primary chamber across air-cooled hearths. The hearths are stair stepped and ash eventually exits the unit into a wet sump.
Heat recovery boilers are used to produce energy in the form of steam and electrostatic precipitators are the air pollution control devices. Both systems are completely independent of each other sharing only a common vent stack.
Steam Power
The facility has three steam customers; J. Rettenmaier (JRS), Minnesota Dehydrated Vegetables Inc. (MDV), and Specialty Products and Technologies Inc. The facility also can generate power with a steam turbine generator.
Employees
There are 32 employees at the Fosston facility, 4 employees at the Landfill and 7 employees at the Transfer Station in Crookston. A number of the employees hold special licenses or degrees to be able to do their job for Polk County and some employees are in apprenticeship program with the facility for Boiler License and Waste Combustor license from the MPCA and the Department of Labor and Industry of State of Minnesota.
Unacceptable Items List
Polk has published and tried to enforce an unacceptable items list for the Counties to follow but its success has been marginal. Haulers cannot see everything in the dumpsters and cannot be expected to sort through the trash fearing exposure to who knows what. Residents and businesses became very clever in their efforts to hide or disguise objects.
Full Service
People prefer to receive a full service for a fee. They have trash to get rid of and they want it all to disappear. After all before the WTE plant and recycling they just left everything on the curb in the morning and it was gone when they returned at night.