• Home
• Our Company
  • Mission & Values
  • Our History
  • Our Leadership
  • What is quasar?
  • Partnerships
  • equate NPK
• Plant Systems
  • What is Biomass?
  • Our Process
  • ecoFARMsystem 550
  • ecoCITYsystem 1325
  • Worldwide
• Our Laboratory
  • OARDC Campus
  • Testing Abilities
  • Feasibility Study
• Our Residuals
  • Renewable Energy
  • Renewable Resources
  • Environmental
• The Industry
  • US BioPower Map
  • Germany
  • United States
• Contact Us
  • Employment
  • Locations
  • Contact Us

Plans for anaerobic digester facility move forward

NEW FRANKLIN — New Franklin City Council voted unanimously to approve the rezoning request of 45 acres of land at Rex Hill and Vanderhoof roads at its June 15 meeting.

The decision, made after a public hearing on the matter that night, involved a request by property owner PPG Industries to rezone the parcel from C-D (Conservation District) to I-2 (Manufacturing and Storage District) to allow the construction of an anaerobic digester by quasar energy group.

Planning Administrator/ Grants Coordinator Mark Kochheiser also added the current activity on the site is a “nonconforming use” and rezoning it would bring it into compliance.

According to the Midwest Rural Energy Council website, an anaerobic digester converts energy in organic materials into electricity. The by-products of the process also will be used in the company’s efforts to reclaim Lime Lake No. 6.

According to the quasar website, PPG produced soda ash to make plate glass at its Barberton plant for more than 70 years, and the liquid and solid wastes were pumped from the soda ash operation into six ponds in the area covering more than 600 acres, creating “lime lakes” that cannot support vegetation. Since 1985, PPG has been working to add biosolids to the “lakes” to create a stable soil matrix that would support vegetation growth and wildlife habitat.

The by-products of the anaerobic digester will cut the time needed to reclaim Lime Lake No. 6 in half, according to Dave Weber, senior mediation engineer for PPG, who spoke at the public hearing.

“We have been working for two years on the Lime Lake project with quasar ,” said Weber. “The anaerobic digester fits in well. It will generate green electricity for us, and we can use the fertilizer [by-product] to support the growth of vegetation on the Lime Lake and get the job done in seven to eight years instead of 25 years.”

Weber also stated that PPG has “no plans for industrial use of the project.”

Bruce Bailey, from quasar , said the organic material to be used as fuel is “often placed in landfills” and includes food wastes.

“This industry is creating jobs to build these digesters,” he added.

Dennis Krawchuk, also from quasar , said the New Franklin facility would have about 10 to 12 tarped or enclosed semi-trucks dropping off such materials at the site weekdays from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and half a day on Saturdays.

New Franklin Mayor Al Bollas said the project would generate income tax from its construction and several employees at the site, in addition to increasing property taxes due to the improvements.

Construction of the digester is scheduled to take four months to complete and will begin after Ohio Environmental Protection Agency permits are granted, which is also estimated to take about three to four months, according to PPG officials.

A number of area residents and city officials, including Zoning Administrator Barry Ganoe, recently toured an anaerobic digester located at The Ohio State University Extension Service in Wooster.

“Everything was meticulously clean, and the noise level was undetectable,” said Ganoe.

Resident Ben Pierson, who is the son-in-law of a woman living next to the project site and who also attended the tour, said he supported the plans for the digester.

“It’s a reasonable proposal, it’s green and it will do some good,” he said.

Two residents, including Nick Keschkes, of Van Buren Road, and Tony Beltich, of Sussex Drive, expressed some concerns about odors from the facility.

“Odors will come,” said Beltich. “This project should be watched. Once this goes through, you will be powerless to fix the problem.”

Bailey responded by saying that in the five years of operating similar projects elsewhere, “we have had no odor complaints.”

“We lose money if you can smell something, so we try hard to contain it all,” he added.

Janice Adams, of Hampshire Road, suggested the project “can’t be any worse than what they [lime lakes] currently smell like.”

PPG’s proposed plans for the digester will need approval by the New Franklin Planning and Zoning Commission before it can proceed. That meeting and another public hearing were not set by presstime.

Also at the meeting, Council approved the following items: • the creation of the Tudor House Advisory Committee; and • participation in the Van Buren Road rehabilitation project with Summit County and the city of Barberton.

Also, Finance Director Scott Svab reported that income tax collection for May is up 23 percent from last year at the same time and the year-to-date collections are up a total of 33 percent from last year.

In addition, city officials agreed to establish consistent rules for plantings around cemetery gravestones after Council member Gerry Hess (Ward 2) reported that borders are being created at some sites despite rules that forbid such action.

Officials plan to post signs at cemeteries stressing the regulations and subsequent action for infractions.

The next Council meeting will take place July 6 starting at 6 p.m. for committee meetings and at 7 for the regular meeting at City Hall, 5611 Manchester Road.