IQALUIT
Iqaluit's overflowing landfill has long been a concern but a new city-run pilot program aims to alleviate the problem by putting trash to good use.

Iqaluit Mayor John Graham took to the podium April 8 at the Arctic Winter Games arena where funding was announced in which the city will pilot a system that produces energy using garbage as a fuel source. - Miranda Scotland/NNSL photo

The city of Iqaluit, with help from the Canadian Economic Development Agency (CanNor), purchased a gasification system that will essentially cook a regular-sized bag of waste, reducing it to a handful of bio-char, a soil enhancer.

The process also produces synthesis gas, which can be used as the machine's main fuel source, and produce about two kWh of thermal energy for every kilogram of waste eliminated.

"The Micro Auto Gasification System (MAGS) will become an additional source of energy in the facility it is housed," said Mayor John Graham during a press conference April 8 at the Arctic Winter Games arena. "This is a very exciting project for the city of Iqaluit."

CanNor invested $350,000 while the city pitched in $151,500 for purchasing, preliminary setup, and design work leading up to the installation of the 10 m3 system.

The machine, which is expected to arrive by sealift this summer, can process 500 kilograms of solid waste or waste oils on a daily basis.

Trash bags filled with almost anything - plastic, paper, food, wood, used oil and even hazardous materials - can be fed into the system every 10 to 15 minutes. Metal and glass can't be processed.

"The project could change the way waste is managed not only in Iqaluit but across Nunavut," said Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq, the minister responsible for CanNor. "We need to do our part to reduce methane produced in the North."

The system meets environmental standards and releases no odour. The emissions exit through a three-inch duct similar to a household drier vent.

"The emissions are going to be very clean," said Panayotis Tsantrizos, CEO and president of Terragon Environmental Technologies Inc., a Montreal-based company which makes the system. "We're exhausting ours in the middle of the city of Montreal right next to our deck while we're having our lunch.

"The issue is primarily on the use of bio-char, because the quality of the bio-char is determined very much by the type of waste that your treating. So if you're throwing batteries and paint and things like that in, it will produce a bio-char that's not suitable for horticultural use."

Terragon began developing the product in 2004 and for the past four years it has been out in the field. It's used by Canada's Navy, the U.S. navy, hotels and hospitals.

The main operating costs associated with the machine are paying for a labourer to load it with solid waste and the 23 kilowatts of energy it uses to get running, said Tsantrizos.

However, some or all of the costs associated with the machine are recovered through the energy production and waste elimination.

"We definitely expect to have a very quick return on investment in a situation like this," said Tsantrizos.

The city has yet to decide what facility will house the machine. Administration will base the decision on where the energy will be most valuable and if there is enough waste generated locally to feed the machine. As for who is going to run it, well Graham said he's up for the task for the first few weeks.

"It's amazing!" he said of the machine.

He and councillor Kenny Bell visited Terragon's operations in Montreal to try out the machine.

Graham said it was easy to operate.

A facility in Cambridge Bay will also be receiving a version of this technology in the future. The System for Total Environmental Protection (STEP) generates clean water and energy from solid waste, used oils, sludge, gray water and black water.

There is speculation the system may be placed in the Canadian High Arctic Research Station.

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