DALTON, Ga. — Carpet remnants once buried in landfills are being reclaimed here to power a more energy-efficient production process by one of the world’s biggest carpet makers.
Shaw Industries showed off its 19-month-old carpet-to-energy facility Tuesday as the carpet maker prepares to add an even larger carpet-powered boiler at another Dalton plant by September.
“Carpet has about the same Btu content as coal,” said Gary Nichols, corporate energy manager for Shaw Industries. “When I found out about all of the carpet that was being landfilled, I couldn’t believe we were putting all that energy back in the ground. That’s how this plant got started.”
More than 20 million pounds of shredded carpet left over from Shaw’s production plants is mixed with wood flour from other Shaw facilities. Together they produce a gas that can be burned to make steam used to dye new carpets at Shaw’s Plant 80 in Dalton.
By September, Shaw plans another type of carpet-to-energy facility at Plant 81, also in Dalton, capable of turning 76 million pounds of reclaimed carpet a year into steam and electricity.
The plants require special equipment to limit particulate emissions, but the process is relatively clean and green, Mr. Nichols said.
More than 5 billion pounds of consumer carpet still is buried in landfills every year, “so there is plenty of fuel,” he said.
PDF: Shaw energy reclamation project
Shaw has invested more than $10 million in Plant 80 to save more than $1 million on its natural gas bill during good years, he said.
“But with gas prices and production levels down, we’re more or less breaking even now,” Mr. Nichols said.
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said Shaw’s carpet reuse program “is the type of innovative, private-sector solutions” America needs for its energy future.
“As a businessman, I recognize if you can take something you used to throw away and turn into a source of energy, steam or electricity, then you’ve got a real winner,” he said.
Shaw officials say they remain committed to reusing more carpet and reducing company wastes. The company has set a corporate goal of reducing its energy consumption by 25 percent and increasing alternative energy sources by 10 percent by 2017, using 2007 levels as a baseline.
“It’s really through innovation and reaching out through environmental solutions that we continue to move this company and industry forward,” said Hal Long, executive vice president for Shaw Industries.