HUDSON: A new industrial park off Seasons Road that is expected to house a waste-to-energy plant is taking shape.
Water, sewers and roads are going in at the Seasons Greene Eco-Industrial Park east of the state Route 8 interchange.
The developer, John A. Shutsa & Associates of Cuyahoga Falls, is seeking wetland permits from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop 10 buildings with 1.2 million cubic feet of space on 161 acres.
“Everything is coming along great,” said spokesman John A. Shutsa.
The plan is to develop a green or environmentally friendly complex housing green and alternate energy businesses.
The developer plans to make $2.1 million worth of improvements, including installing a sanitary sewer, waterline and road.
The industrial park is between Specialty Metals Processing Inc. at 837 Seasons Road and a railroad track to the east and north of Seasons Road.
The company is receiving government assistance for the project.
The state is providing up to a $710,000 grant for the road. Hudson is providing up to $130,000 for the waterline. Summit County agreed to loan $425,000 to the company through the Ohio Water Development Authority to build the sanitary sewer line.
It is difficult to say how long it will take before the project wins wetland approval from the two agencies, but Shutsa said he expects approval early next year.
The project would impact 16.6 acres of wetlands, including 9.5 acres of Category 2 forested wetlands.
The minimal degradation alternative would impact 8.2 acres of wetland, including 5.5 acres of Category 2 wetlands.
A public hearing on the wetland permit can be requested of the EPA. The deadline is Monday. Call 614-644-2001 to arrange to review the application and supporting materials.
Shutsa said he intends to finalize deals with two companies: OpenOils, an Irish firm developing environmentally friendly oil products; and Patriot Energy, a business with ties to Shutsa’s family that wants to convert solid waste to energy.
Air and water pollution permits from state and local agencies are still required for the Patriot Energy plant that Shutsa has pursued for nine years.
The goal is to begin construction on the waste-to-energy plant in 2013, he said.
It would likely take two years to build the showcase plant, he said.
What’s envisioned is a $220 million plant that would process solid waste and produce oils, kerosene and diesel fuel, Shutsa said.
The plant would initially process about 1,000 tons of waste per day and produce up to 33 million gallons of liquids plus up to 36 megawatts of electricity for the industrial park and perhaps for sale to the grid, he said.
The process would turn the trash into a syngas or synthesis gas that would be treated with catalysts, he said.
The process would produce about 6 tons of waste per day that will be shipped to a landfill, he said.
The process being used is a Japanese-based technology that has been around for 20 years but the price of the key catalyst has dropped, he said.
He said he is hoping to complete a licensing agreement for the technology in the United States in the next month or two.
Shutsa said he would then share more details about the technology.
The plans call for later expanding the operation to handle 2,000 tons of garbage per day, he said.
The source of the garbage has not been pinned down yet, Shutsa said.
He said he is interested in taking the garbage from 21 Cuyahoga County communities that handle their own waste collection and haul the trash to landfills.
Summit County communities including Akron and Cuyahoga Falls could opt to participate, but most have contracts with waste-hauling companies.
The Seasons Road park is expected to create 1,016 construction jobs and 1,423 full-time jobs.
Shutsa had initially proposed similar plants in Mogadore and later in Brimfield Township before deciding on the Hudson site.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
