BURLINGTON ASKS TO BURN TIRES, CARPET WASTE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 30, 1992                   TAG: 9201300079
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE: GLASGOW                                LENGTH: Medium
BURLINGTON ASKS TO BURN TIRES, CARPET WASTE
Burlington Industries' Lees Carpet plant is seeking state permits for a new gasification process to burn tires and its waste instead of coal.
The process would burn carpet scraps and shredded tires at temperatures of 2,000 to 2,500 degrees, producing steam needed for carpet-making, "and that will take care of the emissions," said Phil Klein, Burlington's engineering director in Greensboro, N.C.
The process is expected to reduce the plant's landfill deliveries by more than 100 tons a month and to "significantly reduce nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and particulate emissions," Klein said.
"We are taking a major step to clean up emissions," he added.
Burlington is "in a good position" to win a state tire-burning contract, Klein said. The state Department of Hazardous Waste "will pick the cleanest disposal for the state, the least annoyance to the community and some value to the company," he said.
Burning tires and plant waste at high temperatures is cleaner than using coal, Klein said. The waste would not replace all of the low-sulphur coal, however, he said.
Don Shepherd, Roanoke regional director of the state Air Pollution Control Board, said he hasn't seen Burlington's application "but the idea sounds like it could work if it is done right."
Computer models have indicated that sulfur dioxide emissions at the plant now may exceed regulations, Shepherd said, and the new system has the potential to reduce emissions.
Burlington also needs a permits from the state Division for Waste Management for the new process.
Roanoke Cement Co., is burning tires as a replacement for coal and hopes to burn hazardous waste at its Botetourt County plant.
Burlington has spent $5 million on equipment and the system has been tested for a year and a half, Klein said. The company hopes to start the new operation early in 1993, he said.
The system will be owned and operated by Enviro Energy Systems of Englewood, Colo., under a 10-year service agreement. It is the largest system the Colorado company has built, he said.
Burlington will own the boilers. Klein said two stages of thermal combustion to be used are gasification and high-temperature burning.
The new system will have a steam load of 125,000 pounds an hour, replacing current load of 80,000 pounds to 120,000 pounds an hour.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB