GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (From The Post Star) -- Finch Paper in December will conduct tests and market analysis of two new potential reuses of waste from the pulp-making process at the company's Glens Falls mill.

"We don't call it sludge internally. We call it 'paper residuals,'" said Derek Basile, the company's vice president and chief financial officer.

The waste is a combination of short paper fibers and ash.

One potential is to reuse sludge as a component in nitrogen-rich fertilizer and soil enhancers.

The Glens Falls mill is one of the few mills in the world that uses an ammonium bisulfite pulp-making process, which has a high nitrogen waste content.

The other reuse potential is to covert the waste to electricity using an "advanced gasification" process that heats the material at a high temperature without combustion.

Finch Paper would use electricity to power its mill and sell excess electricity to utility companies.

Conceivably, some of the electricity generated would go to the new Glens Falls "microgrid" project to establish a community backup power source during emergencies.

"That's the ultimate goal," Basile said.

Finch Paper has been evaluating ways to reuse sludge for some time, and already sells some of it for animal bedding and compost material.

Fertilizer and electricity generation are relatively new options.

"There's a lot of research right now being done," Basile said.

If one or both applications proves to be feasible and marketable, the company would spend $5 million, including possible state funding, to implement and develop the new byproducts.

EDC Warren County is seeking a $1 million state grant for the project through the state's regional economic development council process.

The Capital Region Economic Development Council has designated the grant request as a "priority project," said Edward Bartholomew, president of EDC Warren County.

The state is expected to make a final decision by early December.

"Finch Paper is a very important and key industry to our region," Bartholomew said.

"This project clearly shows that Finch Paper is looking to the future with environmentally friendly products that will go toward agribusiness and energy instead of landfills as waste," said Omar Usmani, Warren County representative on the Capital Region Economic Development Council.

Finch Paper has a good track record with the state, having previously used a $1 million state grant toward a successful $10 million wood yard improvement and efficiency project in 2014-15, Basile said.

The new project would reduce costs, increase revenue and create 12 new jobs, Basile said.

Finch Paper employs about 625 people now.

The company now reuses some of its sludge, but still disposes about 50,000 tons of sludge a year at its landfill in Northumberland.

The goal is to reuse all of that 50,000 tons per year, which would extend the use of the landfill significantly, Basile said.

The tests are being conducted in collaboration with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, colleges and another private company.

Basile said confidentiality agreements prohibit him from disclosing collaborators at this time, but they will be identified in public reports that Finch Paper and DEC will publish about results of the tests.

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