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Environmental Benefits <br />Emissions from the Elk River Energy Recovery <br />Station are low. In fact, annual stack tests in <br />2002 detected no mercury emissions and ex- <br />tremely low dioxin emissions - 1/10th of an <br />ounce for the year. <br />The Great River Energy Resource Processing <br />Plant facility reduces the amount of waste <br />going to Minnesota londfi'lls by up [0 300,000 <br />tons each year. <br />In addition, creating RDF instead of disposing <br />the waste in a landfill eliminates the methane <br />(a highly active greenhouse gasJ that is gener- <br />ated when the waste is buried. <br />SITE DESCRIPTION <br />V`~sio-lo-Ene~'~~ Power P1ort <br />Every day, up to 1,500 tons of municipal waste arrives at the Elk River Resource Processing <br />Plant. Recyclable steel, aluminum and items that cannot be burned are removed, the <br />remaining waste is processed into RDF and it is delivered to the power plant. Then the RDF <br />is burned to generate the high pressure steam needed to power the plant's generators. <br />Waste-to-energy plants, such as Elk <br />River Energy Recovery Station <br />(formerly named Elk River Station) <br />convert "refuse-derived fuel" from <br />mixed municipal waste into energy. <br />Using waste to generate electricity <br />provides an efficient disposal method <br />for garbage. <br />This fuel is considered a "biomass" <br />fuel, similar to plant matter and <br />animal waste. Municipal waste is a <br />replenishable resource and using it to <br />generate electricity helps conserve <br />natural resources such as oil, coal and <br />natural gas. <br />Elk River Energy Recovery Station's <br />three generators produce up to 35 <br />megawatts of electricity from up to <br />1,000 tons of processed municipal <br />solid waste called refuse-derived fuel. <br />Every day, up to 1,500 tons of <br />municipal waste arrives at the Elk <br />River Resource Processing Plant. <br />Recyclable steel, aluminum and items <br />that cannot be burned are removed, <br />the remaining waste is processed into <br />RDF and it is delivered to the power <br />plant. Then the RDF is burned to <br />generate the high pressure steam <br />needed to power the plant's <br />generators. <br />^Aunicioal iaaste ;s a <br />re(J'~'er!ISt7a hie rESOtIrCe c.^G~ <br />using i=, to generate eiect city <br />heaps conserve natural <br />resources such as otl, cc,al w,,,d <br />natural gas. <br />