West Palm Beach, Fla. — New England Fertilizer Co. (NEFCO) officials are taking a cautious approach to getting back online the biosolids processing plant that was damaged by an explosion here Jan. 24 (GM Jan. 30, 2012), and indications are that operations won’t be resuming anytime soon. “We’re expecting that maybe we’ll be out about four months,” NEFCO spokeswoman Virginia Grace told Green Markets. “We are in the process of making sure that our other process line that didn’t have any damage gets a thorough check-over. We’re in the process of finalizing our investigation and are working very carefully with insurers, equipment vendors, and our clients.” She insisted that this doesn’t mean that the investigation is having problems, but is just a matter of having to coordinate everybody’s schedule. In the meantime, she added, NEFCO will have to truck sludge at no cost to taxpayers from sewage plants in southern Palm Beach County, Palm Beach Gardens, and Jupiter. The $29 million plant, which opened in 2009, handles about 350 tons daily during peak season, converting sludge cakes into fertilizer pellets. The early morning explosion on Jan. 24 occurred as workers restarted the plant after it had been shut down to clean out the plugged area. Preliminary indications are that the cause was an obstruction in the air flow in a dryer outlet, but the specific source of the malfunction hasn’t been determined.
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