InEnTec, the Bend, OR-based company that uses a high-heat process to turn chemical waste into renewable fuels, has gotten a $150 million equity commitment from Lakeside Energy to build a commercial plant in Michigan.
Lakeside, a Chicago investment firm, is providing the cash along with American Securities, a New York-based private equity company. The money will be used to build what they call a plasma enhanced melter gasification plant that will be located at a Dow Corning facility in Midland, MI, according to a statement. Dow has signed a 10-year contract to use InEnTec’s technology to process its chemical wastes into reusable fuel. The plant will be able to produce 11 million BTU’s per hour of syngas, which is as clean as natural gas, InEnTec said.
The InEnTec technology has its origins at MIT and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA, as I wrote back in July. The company’s gasification technology is also being used as a key piece of a refinery being built in Reno, NV, which aims to use gasification to turn municipal garbage into ethanol.
