CBA Environmental Services has focused on providing low-carbon solutions to power generation, mining, and industrial manufacturing operations for the past 29 years.

CBA Environmental Services is the developer of several Cutting-Edge Low Carbon Solutions proven, innovative technologies, including Remedial Coal Solutions, (RCS), Remedial Biomass Solutions, (RBS), and Biosolids-To- Renewable Fuels and Fertilizer, (BTRFF) Technologies. CBA operates the United States’ only working Commercial Industrial Decarbonization Pilot System located at our Corporate Campus and has completed over two hundred pilot tests ranging from coal and biomass to MSW, Biosolids and numerous industrial and agricultural wastes and residuals since 2008.

In addition to CBA’s ongoing Corporate Campus Pilot Testing and BioPolymer production capabilities, CBA is building two Commercial RBS CCUS systems. The first site is located at our 140-acre Commercial Wood Recycling and Material Recycling Facility (MRF) located in Berks County, PA where waste and green woody Biomass ranging from railroad crossties and power utility poles to pallets and tree trimmings are brought in, processed, and transformed into Decarbonized, Engineered Biofuel for Power Generation and Industrial heating and processing applications.

Historically, contaminates associated with wood-preserving process chemicals like creosote and pentachlorophenol have created disposal costs, PRP (Potentially Responsible Party) liability and fuel emissions hurdles for end users. CBA has removed these hurdles because of the CBA technologies now offering a complete recycling and beneficial reuse of otherwise end-of-life wood products destined for Landfill disposal as regulated waste under Federal and State Solid Waste regulations.

CBA’s Berks County facility intends to scale upthroughput of engineered solid Biofuels over the next three to five years while also transitioning into producing SAF, Drop-in Diesel liquid Biofuels, and Biopolymers utilizing a combination of existing feedstock on the ground plus incorporation of new and additional agricultural and forestry residuals like hemp crop components, waste plastics, and other cellulose-derived residuals inbound from the vast Mid-Atlantic region.

CBA’s Berks County facility is also considering the future installation of a Micro Turbine for the generation of renewable electricity for both existing power demand and the sale of power to the grid. The Micro Turbine would be fueled with decarbonized, engineered solid fuels produced at the facility.

The CBA Berks County site is strategically located just sixty miles North of the Port of Philadelphia, several refineries, and the intersection of several major pipelines. The CBA Berks site location offers strategic multiple benefits including the future export of decarbonized engineered fuels.

The second site is located on the property of one of the Country’s oldest Pulp and Paper mills, American Eagle Paper Mill, where contaminated paper fiber residual will be displaced from land application and landfill disposal, and upcycled into high-performance, Decarbonized Sustainable Biopolymers significantly reducing the Carbon Footprint, and providing robust options for a Circular Economy solution.

Since the beginning of time pulp and paper mills have managed their residuals either onsite or offsite generally looking to place in a beneficial use application. Spent paper mill residuals are recycled and re-pulped until they no longer have enough useful cellulose content. As time advanced and current residual management practices of land application and landfill disposal carry higher costs, carbon footprint, and incurred liability; Corporate mandates have evolved to move toward zero landfill objectives. Compounding the issue, the recent discovery of PFAS (Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances) otherwise labeled as “Forever Chemicals” has entered the arena and presents serious environmental concerns for the management of paper mill residuals.

The CBA RBS Technology not only decarbonizes the P&P residual by a minimum of 46%, but the process also reduces and destroys target PFAS compounds. The AEPM project will convert paper mill residuals into Biopolymers and Bio Plastic additives that will reduce the need for fossil-derived carrier resins while upcycling and decarbonizing the cellulosic waste and displacing from land application and landfill disposal resulting in a more Sustainable Life Cycle Analysis, balance sheet liability cleansing, and a cost-positive benefit to AEPM. New plastic parts produced will be PFAS-free and consist primarily of Biopolymers.

Benefits of the CBA Technologies
CBA has intentionally developed low-carbon cross-sector solutions technologies so that hard-to-abate, carbon intense manufacturing does not have to change or alter their process thereby compromising product quality, performance, jobs, and reliability.
Benefits of the CBA Technologies are best described in three major categories:
1. Plant Optimization
2. Product Enhancement
3. Environmental, Sustainable, and Financial.
The CBA Technologies have far-reaching benefits across a wide array of hard-to-abate manufacturing, mining and mineral extraction, power generation, and steel, cement, fertilizer, chemical and plastics production.

Low-cost carbon capture
The CBA Technologies are the lowest-cost cross-sector Carbon Capture Sequestration, and Utilization process commercially available today due to the simplicity and scalability of how it works, its low capital and operating cost and the fact that additional value-added commercial products are produced because of the process. Additionally, multiple manufacturing optimization values are realized generating real dollar savings across the entire hard-to-abate manufacturing processes.

High rate of CO2 capture and displacement
The CBA technologies have a much lower Carbon Intensity (CI) score compared to other carbon capture technologies because most of the carbon capture and displacement is done chemically with a low-temperature thermal curing step.

How the CBA Technologies Work
The CBA technologies, including Remedial Coal Solutions, (RCS), Remedial Biomass Solutions, (RBS), and Biosolids to Renewable Fuel and Fertilizer, (BTRFF), are based on chemical decarboxylation utilizing a proprietary chemical reagent proven commercially time after time.

Prior to the chemical decarboxylation reaction, the chemical reagent upon contact with the feedstock instantly expands the micro and macro pore structure of the carbon-based feedstock allowing for rapid liquid-gas mass transfer of the CO2 molecules to contact the reagent. The proprietary reagent possesses the highest molecular absorption capacity for CO2 and CO2-e (CO2 - equivalent compounds) including target carboxylic acids.

Captured CO2 compounds are transformed into mineral salts that become commercial product ingredients and stand-alone commercial products. The average CO2 reduction performance is 46% across feedstocks including fossil fuels like coal, non-fossil fuels like woody biomass, industrial and municipal sludges like Biosolids and papermill residual, and Municipal Solid Waste, (MSW).

The CBA technologies have been independently vetted and tested by the Electric Power Research Institute, (EPRI), University of North Dakota - Energy and Environmental Research Center, (UND-EERC), Combustion Resources Incorporated, (CRI), and GE Power Systems. Independent testing and verification conducting comparative combustion tests of raw versus treated feedstocks have consistently demonstrated average reductions of 46% of CO2 and CO2 -e compounds, excess steam, and electrical capacity of 25%, and significant reductions in other emissions profile pollutants such as NOx, SOx, and other hazardous pollutants.

The CBA technologies are pre-combustion applications facilitating ease of installation into a multitude of existing manufacturing processes, power generation, mining, and industrial applications. With a low CAPEX and OPEX combined with ease of scalability and zero interruption to existing processes, while providing additional sources of income and operational savings, the CBA technologies offer attractive low-carbon solutions to a broad range of industries.

Author:
Bruce L. Bruso
President & Chief Technology Officer
CBA Environmental Services

Featured in Issue 2, 2024 of Carbon Capture Magazine

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