A plasma arc waste conversion facility has inched closer to becoming a reality in Marion, as the City Council voted unanimously last week to authorize the city to sit down with Global Energies of Florida to start discussing the details in building such a facility in Marion.

The city chose Global Energies from a list of four companies that responded to the city's request for proposals for a plasma arc facility. City Manager Lon Pluckhahn said that the city made its decision based on input from local environmental group WastenotIowa and a committe formed when the city conducted a feasibility study into plasma arc technology last year.

Plasma arc technology is a process of waste conversion through which solid waste is subjected to a plasma torch and turned into a reusable product, such as electricity or methanol. WastenotIowa has been advocating the technology to the city as an alternative to burying the city's 90 tons of residential waste per day at a landfill, such as the Linn County Solid Waste Agency's County Home Road location. Only a handful of plasma arc facilities exist in the U.S., mostly operated privately. Most facilities are based outside the country, particularly in Canada and Japan.

Pluckhahn explained that the agreement that the council reached last week is not a commitment to Global Energies building a facility in Marion, but does allow the first steps for such a facility to take place. The city and Global Energies will now sit down and begin discussing the expectations each has of the other, including city code requirements and how much waste Global Energies would expect the city to commit to provide them.

"There's a lot of legwork to be done," Pluckhahn said.

Global Energies, meanwhile, has begun meeting with local utility companies, and Pluckhahn said company officials will be in the area late next week to meet with the Linn County Solid Waste Agency, the city of Cedar Rapids and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

If everything moves as is anticipated now, Pluckhahn said that Global Energies believes a facility capable of handling 200 tons of waste per day could be opened by the end of 2013. A plant of that size would be capable of handling all of Marion's residential waste, while able to accept more from other sources. Pluckhahn feels that a 600-ton-per-day facility isn't outside the realm of possibility. A facility of that size would handle all of Linn County's 600-ton-per-day average waste footprint and would make a future Marion plasma arc facility one of the largest in the world.

Marion received $150,000 from the state last year to pay for a feasibility study to determine which plasma arc byproducts would make the most economical sense in the area. The study suggested turning the waste to electricity, so Pluckhahn said that Global Energies will be looking for an area utility company to partner with.