Work to start on food waste-to-energy facility in Yaphank
A rendering of the planned Organic Energy anaerobic digester facility in Yaphank. Credit: JPN Studios / Jim Neidert
Construction of Long Island’s first facility that promises to turn regional food waste into a form of renewable natural gas, and enough electricity to power itself, is expected to begin this month.
American Organic Energy, a sister company of Long Island Compost, will break ground this month for the $120 million facility at its Yaphank property with a planned production date by late 2023, said Charles Vigliotti, chief executive. Most of the plant’s production will go toward producing renewable natural gas, he said, a change from former plans that included larger production of electricity and a liquid biofuel.
The anaerobic digester, conceived in 2013, had originally been slated for startup in 2015, but changes to the business model and delays in getting needed approvals pushed it back, Vigliotti said.
“We worked our way through the regulatory process and things got pushed back because of the pace of bureaucracy, then we ran into COVID,” he said. “It’s been a nightmare, very costly, but we now have everything in place.”
Pressures on materials for the plant, including steel and concrete, pushed the price tag from a 2020 update of $90 million to a more recent estimate of $120 million. When first announced in 2013, the estimated price was $50 million.
AOE is working with outside investors to fund the plan, which involves taking in 180,000 tons of food waste a year. State law mandates restaurants and other facilities located near the facility provide scraps and other materials to the digester, Vigliotti said.
AOE will store the waste in climate-controlled facility designed to keep odors inside. Food waste will be cleaned of any materials that can’t be digested, including bags and cans, and the digested material will be turned into a slurry stored in tanks. Renewable gas created from that no-oxygen process will be fed into a National Grid connection to a third-party company that will purchase it, Vigliotti said.
The digested slurry will then be separated into solids, which will be used by Long Island Compost, and a nutrient-rich liquid that will be sold as fertilizer. End-product wastewater will be treated and piped to the Bergen Point wastewater treatment plant, Vigliotti said, in an agreement with Suffolk County. “We take out everything that could be problematic,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Suffolk County said an agreement with American Organic Energy to send "anaerobic filtrate wastewater" to the Bergen Point facility was authorized by the county legislature last June.
"As part of the agreement, AOE has agreed to upgrade and renovate wastewater receiving station and tanks at the company’s cost," said spokeswoman Marykate Guilfoyle, adding the facility also is subject to state and Brookhaven town approvals, among others.
Kevin Molloy, a Brookhaven Town spokesman, said, "All planning approvals are in place," but there is "still an open building permit that is not closed." In addition, he said, the Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency has "has indicated support for the project but has not closed on it."
An original plan to make and sell 6 megawatts of electricity to LIPA under an approved $83 million, 20-year contract won’t be used. Instead, the facility will make 2 megawatts of power for its own use, Vigliotti said, noting the power purchase agreement hadn’t been enough to fund the operation.
Vigliotti, whose Long Island Compost in the past has tangled with Yaphank residents over fumes and dust issues in Yaphank, said the digester is designed to eliminate those concerns. “You listen to your critics and very often people have legitimate issues,” he said. “You can’t just go on fighting. It’s a rotten way to run a railroad.”
The facility also will take in 30,000 tons annually of fats, oils and greases as part of the process, with total intake not to exceed 210,000 tons a year. He said AOE has contracts to sell the gas and to receive 85% of the waste.
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
