Pacific

American Samoa to burn waste for fuel

14:30 pm on 4 July 2014

The American Samoa Power Authority has signed a waste to energy power agreement with a US company to set up a plant that will use garbage to produce fuel oil.

The contractor will design, build and operate the plant at the sanitary landfill at Futiga with construction to begin this year.

The plant will use 62 tons of waste a day to produce burnable fuel oil that will be used as fuel for diesel.

From the 62 tons of waste a day, the facility will produce enough fuel to generate a net 15 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year.

In addition to the fuel oil, the plant will produce char and acetic acid as by-products, both of which have commercial use and can be exported profitably.

The project will also mean a 90 percent reduction in the waste entering the Futiga landfill.