NEW FRANKLIN: A facility to turn sewage sludge into fuel for vehicles is planned in southern Summit County.Construction of a $4.5 million anaerobic digester is to begin this month, and it should be fully operational by January.It will be built and operated by Lime Lakes Energy LLC, a subsidiary of the Cleveland-based Quasar Energy Group, in cooperation with PPG Industries.The digester will be near Vanderhoof and Rex Hill roads, near PPG’s Lime Lake No. 6.Leftover wastes from the digester operation will be used to speed up the reclamation of Lime Lake 6, said David W. Weber, a PPG senior remediation engineer.The digester should enable PPG to complete its work on Lime Lake 6 in 2015 or 2016, earlier than had been anticipated, he said.That, Weber said, is PPG’s main role in the venture that has been under study and discussion since mid-2009.The project has won approval from New Franklin City Council on zoning and from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.In June, New Franklin City Council voted to rezone 45 acres of PPG land near Lime Lake 6 from a conservation district to manufacturing/storage. The project’s air pollution permit has been approved by the Akron Regional Air Quality District and the EPA. Other EPA permits are pending and should be approved within two to three weeks, agency spokesman Mike Settles said.Initially, the project was supposed to generate electricity for PPG, but the plan later was changed to produce compressed natural gas.The system relies on decomposition by bacteria that do not need oxygen, a process known as anaerobic digestion. The bacteria make the high-solids sludge ferment. The bacteria multiply, consume part of the sludge and produce a burnable gas that is mostly methane.Food wastes and grease also will be processed as part of the operation.The system requires two tanks: one capable of processing 750,000 gallons of sludge and a second that can hold 230,000 gallons of sludge to be used as fuel. The bigger tank will be about 60 feet in diameter and will be topped by a bubble about 30 feet high.The system is closed, so odors are not expected to be a problem.The total operation will require about 2 acres.The sludge from sewage plants in Northeast Ohio will be processed in the digester tank for 25 to 30 days at temperatures of 90 to 100 degrees.The facility is expected to produce enough compressed natural gas a day to be the equivalent of 3,000 gallons of gasoline, said Mel Kurtz, president and chief executive of Quasar Energy Group.Last December, the project was awarded a $1 million grant from the Ohio Department of Development.Quasar Energy has 14 digesters that are in operation, under construction or planned, Kurtz said. Ohio plants are up and running in Akron, Wooster, Columbus and Zanesville; another is operational in Rutland, Mass.The Akron digester produces electricity; the three other Ohio plants produce compressed natural gas.Two digesters are under construction in Cleveland and Haviland, he said.Before November 2009, Quasar Energy was known as Schmack BioEnergy. It is marketing a German digester technology.There are about 300 digesters across the United States. They are much more common in Europe, where Germany alone has about 5,000.Akron is partnering with KB Compost to triple the digester system at the city’s composting plant off Riverview Road. The expansion, costing $32 million, is to be completed in 18 months.The city will use the electricity to power the compost plant and the nearby sewage treatment plant to reduce energy bills. The compost plant will cease producing sludge, a move that will reduce odors.The Lime Lakes digester project will include converting vehicles to operate on compressed natural gas, Kurtz said.It makes sense to convert trucks delivering the sewage from places like Summit County and Elyria to the biogas to help reduce fuel costs for municipalities supplying the sludge, he said.The fuel gas will not be available to the public at the New Franklin location, he said.Kurtz said the New Franklin facility will process at least 25,000 tons of biosolids a year. That material is largely liquid, but the remaining desirable solids are 70 to 80 percent volatiles that can be converted into biogas, he said.The project will produce about 3,500 tons a year of leftover sludge from the digester, PPG’s Weber said. That organic material will be incorporated into Lime Lake 6 as part of its reclamation.Lime Lake 6 has been receiving about 5,500 tons of sludge a year. That will be boosted with the additional tonnage of digester leftovers, Weber said.Six large lime deposits cover 600 acres in Barberton and New Franklin. The lime “lakes” hold no water but were once a flat, white landscape much too alkaline to support vegetation or wildlife.The lime in the six deposits was created during PPG’s soda ash manufacturing from 1899 to 1973. The soda ash was needed to make glass.The lime deposits, up to 40 feet deep, were a legal means of disposal at the time.State-ordered reclamation began in 1985 and has cost PPG millions of dollars. About 50 percent of the acreage has been reclaimed.Lime Lakes 3, 4 and 5 are done. Lime Lake 6 has been under way since 2007. Lime Lakes 1 and 2 are contaminated with other toxic chemicals and a different process will be required for reclamation.Sludge has been added to the lime deposits. The land has been recontoured and planted. Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.