City of Commerce, CA

Collective Resource Services, LLC (CRS) team designed and built the Commerce Refuse-to-Energy Facility that is located in the City of Commerce on Sheila Street, near the Santa Ana  (I-5) Freeway.

Planning for the Commerce Facility began in 1981.  The original goal of the project was to demonstrate that  refuse-to-energy is a viable alternative method of solid waste management in the South Coast Air Basin, where air pollution requirements are the toughest in the world. The Commerce Facility has achieved its goal by meeting regulatory requirements since 1987.  The Commerce Facility was the first plant in the world to use a unique state-of-the-art combination of air pollution control devices. These  devices consist of ammonia and limestone injection into the furnace,  followed by a dry scrubber, and finishing with a bag-house. This  combination of devices has earned the Commerce Facility the reputation  for being the cleanest of all the plants of this type in the world.

The  Commerce Facility poses no health threat to the community. A health  risk assessment prepared and reviewed by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) and the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment revealed that the cancer risk for the average  person living near the Commerce Facility is only 0.3 in a million. To put this into perspective, the cancer risk from eating peanut butter  every day is 560 in a million, and the risk of drinking one pint of milk  per day is 140 in a million.

The Commerce Facility has  established itself as one of the best refuse-to-energy plants in the world, having produced some of the lowest emissions on record and  operating an innovative ash reuse system.

The Commerce Facility has won four national awards:

1) Environmental Protection Award from “Power” Magazine

2) Award of Excellence from the Solid Waste Association of North America

3) Grand Prize for Operation/Management from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers

4) Facility Recognition Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers

FACTS:

• Produces enough electricity to power more than 20,000 homes
• Produces some of the lowest emissions on record and operating an innovative ash reuse system
• Produces power 7 days per week 24 hours per day
• An average of 50 trucks deliver loads per day 5 days a week
• Burns 350 tons of trash per day
• Generates a net of 11.5 MW of electricity
• Recovers  annually 1,925 tons of metal, equivalent to the metal in 750 cars and  saves 155,000 cubic yards of landfill space, equivalent to a football  field piled 93 feet high