Commercial Boilers and Industrial Furnaces Average Utilization Climbs To 72 Percent In 1999

Overcapacity situation expected to decrease in the next several years

Contacts: Thomas Moes 952/831-2473, ext. 11
Cary Perket 858/488-4760

August 8, 2000 — For Immediate Release

Edina, MN — The EI Digest: Hazardous Waste Marketplace, North America’s leading research service on hazardous waste management, announced the results of its annual survey of the commercial boilers and industrial furnaces (BIF) sector. The results show that volumes of hazardous waste-derived fuel processed in North America’s 21 commercial BIFs in 1999 — 1.2 million tons — remained about the same as 1998. Commercial BIFs in the U.S. include 15 cement plants, 3 lightweight aggregate plants and 3 sulfuric acid regeneration facilities.

Processing capacity decreased marginally from 1,733 to 1,672 thousand annual tons, increasing the average utilization rate by two points to 72 percent. According to EI Researcher Thomas Moes, the amount of hazardous waste used as fuel and capacity in 1999 was impacted by two factors. "The number of BIF facilities decreased, reducing the capacity to process hazardous waste-derived fuel. Second, there was an unusual amount of downtime at the BIF facilities." EI anticipates that facility downtime will continue to keep supply tight in the year 2000.

EI reports that additional closures of BIF facilities are expected over the next two years. "Stringent economic and regulatory factors such as testing and permitting costs can outweigh the benefits, which may jeopardize a BIF facility’s economic viability," says Moes. In addition, some alterations in BIF manufacturing processes are likely to temporarily reduce fuel usage at some BIFs. "The net expectation is that further reduction in fuel capacity will bring the market closer to a balance between supply and demand," says EI Senior Analyst Cary Perket. "This would be very beneficial to the commercial fuel and BIF operators, provided that they are able to leverage the situation to increase prices."

This report appeared in EI Digest: Hazardous Waste Marketplace, a business research report published 10 times per year that covers hazardous waste management issues. Further information on EI Digest can be found on ENVIROBIZ.COM (http://www.envirobiz.com), one of the Internet’s leading sites for proprietary and public environmental business information. Based in Edina, MN, Environmental Information, Limited (EI) specializes in information and research on the marketplace for environmental services and technology. EI provides original subscription-based researched services. Among the services is the comprehensive compilation of the largest directory and database of environmental service firms, landfills, and treatment, disposal and storage (TSD) facilities in North America. For further information, contact customer service at 952/831-2473.

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