Q: Who owns Ze-gen?

Ze-gen is privately-owned business, funded by a number of domestic and international investors.

Q: What is Ze-gen’s mission?

Ze-gen was founded by Bill Davis in 2004 with the mission to develop new solutions to solve the worldwide challenge of waste accumulation.
The company has developed technology that converts specific waste materials into a clean, reliable energy source and decreases reliance on existing fossil fuels for energy.

Q: What is gasification?

Gasification is the term used to describe any process that converts carbon-rich materials (solid or liquid) into a synthesis gas through partial oxidation of carbon. There are many different processes by which materials can be gasified, but all processes involve exposing carbon materials to heat with limited amounts of oxygen to drive gasification without combusting or burning that material.

Q: What is liquid metal gasification?

Liquid metal gasification uses liquid copper as a heat bank to efficiently convert solid materials into high quality synthesis gas for use as an alternative fuel. Materials are immersed in the liquid metal bath and rapidly converted to synthesis gas.                  

Q: What is synthesis gas (syngas)?

Syngas is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas, which can be burned for use as a fuel or used as a chemical building block for creating other products.  Syngas has a similar profile to natural gas, and therefore serves as a viable form of alternative non-fossil fuel energy industrial use.

Q: How will you be using the syngas?

The syngas will be burned in a boiler to generate steam. The steam will be used by nearby businesses for building heat and industrial processes and will also be used to make electricity for use within the Attleboro Corporate Campus.

Q: Can you send me the schem[atics] and explanation about the process for converting waste into electricity?

Ze-gen’s liquid metal gasification process involves a thermo-chemical process that disassociates organic materials (the waste/feedstock) to form synthesis gas. Chemically, all the components of the design feedstock mix for the Project consist of straight-chain and aromatic hydrocarbons, as well as oxygen-containing organic molecules and polymers such as wood and waste plastics. Elementally, these feedstocks contain primarily hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. When processed separately or as a mixture, the feedstocks are rapidly broken down by liquid metal gasification to elements that react to equilibrium reaction products of CO, H2, CO2, and H2O (i.e., syngas).

The chemical conversion reactions are driven using liquid metal to effect very high rates of heat and mass transfer between all feedstock components and reactants (e.g., oxygen) across the entire reaction zone. The tar-free syngas generated through the gasification process has a similar profile to natural gas, and therefore serves as a viable form of alternative non-fossil fuel energy. The syngas will be fed into a boiler to make steam and electricity for the surrounding industrial facilities at the Attleboro Corporate Campus.

At this time, we do not have any schematic diagrams to publish, but you can view the videos on our website to see the operations at our liquid metal demonstration facility in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Q: How are you different from incineration?

Incineration is a technology that involves burning waste in order to reduce the volume of waste and generate heat to produce electricity.
Here, we are taking the feedstock, and without burning it, we are converting it into a fuel that is similar to natural gas.

Q: How do you know this technology will work?

The steel industry has been using this type of technology for 50 years to purify ore. What we’re doing is taking that technology and applying it to processing waste materials.

Ze-gen has been developing liquid metal gasification technology at our demonstration facility in New Bedford, MA since 2007. The facility was designed to test the commercial efficacy of liquid metal gasification, and has been successfully proving it can gasify waste material to produce a quality gaseous fuel at competitive cost.  In 2009, the facility was updated based on lessons learned and data analysis from Phase I of testing, and since 2009, Ze-gen has generated over 3600 hours of operational experience and data at the facility.

Q: Do you perceive your plant as being the typical size of an operation, or do you think that once you’ve got the process spot on, then it’ll be a larger affair?

Ze-gen's technology is scalable and the commercial facilities are designed based on the operational need of the customers. The Attleboro Clean Energy Project will have a processing capacity of up to 75 tons per day of feedstock and there are no plans to expand the facility. In general, Ze-gen sees an advantage to developing moderately-sized gasification facilities that serve the needs of surrounding communities and to minimize local impact, rather than seeking to build large-scale facilities processing thousands of tons per day of feedstock.

Q: How many trucks are expected to the Project site per day?

Approximately 8 to 10 trucks per day will be delivering post-processed, post-recycled material to serve as the feedstock material.

Q: What roads will the trucks use?

At this point in time, Ze-gen has not finalized the traffic routes for feedstock delivery. However, all plans will involve the neighbors and the City of Attleboro in route planning to ensure that truck traffic has minimal impact in the area.  

Q: Where is the Attleboro Clean Energy Project going to be located?

527 Pleasant Street, which is within the Attleboro Corporate Campus.

The Project site is co-located within a state-of-the art industrial wastewater treatment facility operated by NewStream, LLC.

Q : How long is construction expected to last?

Construction is expected to begin in December and last for approximately 1 year.

Q: What is the noise impact?

The Project will incorporate noise mitigation features in order to ensure that it meets the EPA noise guidelines, as well as the MassDEP and City of Attleboro ordinance requirements.

Q: What is the visual impact?

The visual impact of the Project is expected to be minimal.  The Project is being built within an existing 261-acre industrial business part and involves the construction of two (2) building stacks, which are expected to measure 100ft in height.

Q: What is the impact on my property value?

The success of the Attleboro Clean Energy Project will have far-reaching benefits for the Attleboro community and will highlight the role the City of Attleboro can play in Massachusetts' Clean Energy Economy.  First and foremost, the Project will create the first clean energy industrial park in Massachusetts and will reduce the overall air emissions impact from energy at the Attleboro Corporate Campus.   The Attleboro Clean Energy Project will also serve as a focal point for economic development in the City of Attleboro, which has a long and impressive history as a leader in industrial manufacturing and technology innovation, from its time as a center for jewelry making, to its time as a center for electronics manufacturing. 

The Ze-gen facility will be supplying thermal energy in the form of steam to the tenants of the Attleboro Corporate Campus (the ACC) that would otherwise be relying on the existing Central Utility Plant (CUP) for their steam.  Currently, the CUP runs on residual fuel oil and natural gas, two fossil fuels, and Ze-gen's facility would be displacing and/or reducing the use of fossil fuels on the Attleboro campus. The presence of Ze-gen's facility will help to make the ACC a leader in clean energy industrial parks, bring new jobs to the City, and help to attract new environmentally-minded businesses to Attleboro. 

Furthermore, the Project will create high-quality and high-value jobs for the region which draw upon skills from foundries, waste handling, boiler operations, and industrial gas production. The ACC currently employs over 900 people and new Ze-gen project will add 20 permanent local jobs and create approximately 100 jobs during plant construction.  In addition, the community benefits do not stop at the Attleboro Corporate Campus.   Ze-gen
is already in discussions about collaborating with the City of Attleboro, Bridgewater State College, and Bristol Community College to increase and enrich green job training, internship opportunities, and research and development opportunities for students and faculty - a critical element of building a larger and more robust green energy business community in Attleboro. 

Q: Is this technology safe?

Ze-gen has a great track record; we have safely and successfully operated our demonstration facility In New Bedford for two years.

Click here to view Fire Chief Faria's letter of suport for Ze-gen.

We plan to work closely with public safety officials in Attleboro to make sure that we fully meet their expectations for safety practices and training. We did the same thing in New Bedford when we built our demonstration facility and we will do the same in Attleboro. 

Q: Could the plant explode? If it is so new, how do you know if it will explode?

Explosions occur when there is a buildup of pressure; our technology is specifically designed not to use a pressurized vessel and therefore there is little risk of an explosion at our plant.

Q: With temperature baths this hot (2200°F), is there a risk of fires?

Our vessel is made of materials used in foundries and steel plants that are specifically designed for high temperature processes such as ours. We also have numerous redundant systems included in our plant plans, designed with professional fire safety experts to ensure there is minimal risk of fire. To the extent there is any problem with metal leaking, the vessel sits on top of a sand pit and storage bins to safely capture any leak

Q: Have you ever had an incident?

Yes and the safety systems worked as planned. We had an equipment failure during testing at the demonstration facility in 2009 where the liquid metal bath had to be drained from the vessel. It was drained effectively into the sand-pit receptacle below the vessel. There were no injuries or adverse affects and the vessel was later repaired and put back into service.

Our vessel is made of materials used in foundries and steel plants that are specifically designed for high temperature processes such as ours.
We also have numerous redundant systems included in our plant plans, designed with professional fire safety experts to ensure that there is minimal risk of fire.

Q:  What happens to the material that drained into the sandpit?  How did you dispose of it?

Used metal will be recycled or sold to a metal reprocessing company so it can be purified and reused.

Q: What waste materials are you bringing onsite?

The Project will use six (6) materials: wood pallets, railroad crossties, utility poles, non-recyclable source-separated plastics, carpet fibers, and recycled coolant glycol (anti-freeze) residuals, all materials that would otherwise have to be disposed in landfills or incinerators.  While the source separated materials will arrive at the project site separately and stored onsite separately, Ze-gen will combine the feedstock material prior to gasification to optimize operating conditions and syngas quality.

Q: What is a Beneficial Use Determination (BUD)?

The Project’s feedstock suppliers will obtain Beneficial Use Determinations from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection that will reclassify the waste material as fuel given the feedstock’s beneficial reuse. The suppliers will process the material using their own grinding operations, and then deliver the material to Ze-gen as a post-recycled, processed feedstock. We only use materials that have already been processed to remove recyclable materials or that would have been sent to landfills if it were not utilized by Ze-gen. So using this material in a beneficial way does not compete with recycling efforts at all. 

Q: Are there any odors associated with the feedstock?

We are not bringing in any household trash or other waste materials that are normally associated with smells.  There is a mild odor of wood preservative on some of our feedstock, but the feedstock will be brought in covered trucks or railcars to control any smells.  All materials will be stored in fully enclosed buildings and containers. We will spray odor neutralizers if necessary to ensure that there are no odors leaving the building.

Q: Are there any by products produced at the facility?

In addition to the syngas, the liquid metal gasification process also produces a slag layer. It is the inorganic constituents that are generally lighter than liquid metal and congregate as the slag layer atop the liquid metal bath and are removed as a non-leachable, non-hazardous slag (metal) that is either recycled and used in road aggregate for construction or disposed of as an industrial byproduct. Additionally, there will be some byproducts associated with baghouses used in the Project (baghouses are used to collect particulate). 

The dust that is collected in the feed handling area will be reused in the process as a feedstock material (once the bin is full, it will be watered down, to dampen the dust, and then added to the gasifier feed conveyor). Because the elements of the feed are dissociated during the gasification process, the baghouse particulate dust captured after the boiler may not be able to be reused. The particulate collected in this bin will be tested and will be disposed of by a licensed contractor.

Q: What is in the syngas?

A: The gases that result from the liquid metal gasification process are a mixture of CO, CO2, H2, and water vapor, with some contaminants entrained.  While some metals and oxides present in the feed accumulate in the liquid metal bath and are removed through slagging (manual process to remove the slag layer), other contaminants, may present as a vapor and are captured downstream in the emissions control system. 

Q: What are your emissions controls?

All associated emissions points from the equipment are monitored to ensure compliance with applicable standards and limitations. The emissions control system will employ standard and proven gas conditioning equipment including a pre-coated baghouse filter with alkali injection for particulate and halogen removal, activated carbon injection for mercury removal, and a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) unit for NOx removal as required.

Q: Does your plant emit other harmful toxic materials or metals into the air?

The feedstock we are proposing to use includes small amounts of metals and we will control any metals and particulates emission to be well within the stringent standards set by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.