SynTech BioEnergy’s system can produce fuel, electricity
As Eagle County looks to “decarbonize,” a longtime visitor may have an answer.
Wayne McFarland, CEO of SynTec BioEnergy, recently presented an overview of his firm and its capabilities to the Eagle County Board of Commissioners. The SynTec technology could be used to cut waste going into the local landfill, produce electricity for the facility and provide millions of gallons of sustainable aviation fuel to the Eagle County Regional Airport.
McFarland said his company’s pilot projects have more than 120,000 hours of operation for public- and private-sector partners including the U.S. Department of Defense and Caterpillar.
McFarland said he isn’t requesting for partnership with the county, or public funds, but an “offer,” requiring only a place to put the system and “feedstock” in the form of waste, and, perhaps, solid materials from wastewater processing.
The system relies on a “thermo-chemical” conversion process that heatsthe feedstock. The result is heat, which can be used to generate electricity, along with synthetic fuel — which can be used as jet fuel and to power equipment at the landfill — and a “BioChar” ash. That material can be used to create graphene, a material used in tech and other industries. What’s left over from that process can be used as fertilizer.
Once it starts, it’s on
The system, which McFarland said can be installed in premanufactured modules, needs to be jump-started to heat its charcoal bed to about 500 degrees Celsius. That can be done with electricity or liquid fuel. The system can be started with synthetic gas, of which SynTech has a supply.
The system doesn’t require any water, and doesn’t emit any pollutants into the air.
If a deal is struck, SynTech could provide sustainable aviation fuel to Signature Aviation, which owns the Vail Valley Jet Center, and could ultimately provide enough fuel to meet about half the fuel demand at the facility.
Vail Valley Jet Center Geneal Manager Paul Gordon told the commissioners that the facility currently sells about 7 million gallons of fuel per month. Of that, only about 1,000 gallons per month is sustainable aviation fuel.
Part of the problem is cost. Gordon said the sustainable fuel at the airport costs about $1.50 more per gallon than conventional fuel.
The prospect of a large fuel customer nearby has McFarland and his company looking forward to starting work.
SynTech didn’t come to the county out of the blue.
McFarland connected with the county several years ago through County Manager Jeff Shroll’s previous job as Gypsum’s Town Manager.
McFarland said his company and the town connected when there were questions about the continued operation of the town’s current biomass plant, which processes beetle-killed timber.
That deal never came to pass, but McFarland said the company recently reconnected with Shroll with ideas for a facility at the landfill.
Friendly legislation
SynTech’s growth has been fueledby the passage of the federal “Inflation Reduction Act.” That law, and its attendant spending on alternative energy, could do for SynTech what previous legislation and funding did for the solar and wind power industries.
And, McFarland said, he has a long affinity with the Vail Valley, having been a visitor when he was a high school student.
During a career as an attorney and entrepreneur, McFarland said he was looking for an opportunity with essentially never-ending demand. That was boiled down to health and energy. He chose energy, then started looking for sustainable energy firms.
The search for ideas eventually landed on a system from Community Power Corporation. Syntech in 2015 assumed whole ownership of the technology and operates from its headquarters in Englewood.
Commissioner Matt Scherr called the idea “super fascinating.” And, he added, he’d love to take the county’s current recycling stream and turn it into fuel.
“You’ll be hearing from us,” he said.