S.C. company plans to build green energy plant in B.R.

A company that turns food and yard waste into energy and compost products says it will soon begin filing for permits to build a $12 to $25 million plant in Baton Rouge. W2E Organic Power has begun site work on its first such plant, called an anaerobic digestion facility, in Columbia, S.C.—where the company is headquartered—and expects to be operational in May, says Daniel Rickenmann, W2E founder and CEO. “Basically, we build giant Crock-Pots. We take pre- and post-consumer waste and we heat it up to 130 degrees, and then we harvest the methane that rises to the top—like condensation that gathers on the lid of a Crock-Pot,” says Rickenmann. The methane can be converted into electricity, he says, while the leftover byproduct can be turned into high-utrient compost products for home, commercial and agricultural uses. Rickenmann says he’s found a suitable site for the Baton Rouge plant on about five acres of land off Scenic Highway. “We’d like to start building the facility late in the third quarter of 2012 or early in the fourth quarter,” says Rickenmann, who started W2E in 2008 after owning and operating a number of restaurants for 16 years. “We feel Baton Rouge has some real potential, not only because of its growth and port system, but the strides it’s making in the recycling community.” You can learn more about W2E at its website here. Read the full story here. —Steve Sanoski