Since GESI will be using railroad ties for fee

Since GESI will be using railroad ties for feedstock in their gasification plant. I thought this article was very fitting.

Why Burn or Gasify Old Ties?

The use of treated wood cross ties in biomass cogeneration facilities offers numerous advantages. With today’s modern technology employed in approved facilities, burning old creosote-treated ties is perfectly safe. In fact, used ties’ value as a fuel source is even greater than that realized from untreated wood. Creosote-treated ties have a higher BTU fuel content than untreated wood. Treated wood contains 7,500-10,000 BTU’s compared to 3,500 for untreated material. Creosote-treated ties burn even hotter and cleaner than untreated wood, thus delivering lower NOx and SOx emissions. Cross tie cogeneration’s ash is very clean. In fact, it is safe for use for pH adjustment and soil stabilization in acidic soil profiles in landfills and strip mines. Cogeneration also reduces landfill space taken up by tie disposal. A 250-pound tie, for example, is reduced to fewer than two pounds of ash in the combustion process. The use of treated wood cross ties as a biomass fuel is a complete disposal solution, a true cradle to-grave success story for today’s environmentally conscious world.

http://www.rta.org/assets/docs/ratabrochure.ashx.pdf

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