Waste to ethanol

A completely different use for municipal solid waste and forestry residue is ethanol. Montreal-based Enerkem is building two commercial-scale plants to take these organic waste products and turn them into ethanol using a process called gasification. The material is fed into a machine like this one and treated with high heat. That breaks most of the material down into a synthetic gas, which can be converted into different chemicals. In August, the company started construction on a facility to treat municipal solid waste in Edmonton, Alberta.