CSU, Fort Collins swap land that's housed hazardous materials

Talk about extreme makeovers.

A former dump site for human waste is poised to become home to one of the most advanced and promising forms of renewable energy.

Though they represent opposite ends of the spectrum, from sewage to the sun, both procedures include toxic materials and the potential for worrisome health hazards, which could lead to concerns about the land's safety from contamination. The land is the once and future home of dangerous, deadly and, well, disgusting substances. Because the land in question is within a couple acres of the Poudre River, that is a major concern.

But officials say there are enough procedures in place to make sure the land, on the southwest corner of Prospect Road and Interstate 25, remains safe.

» The Future

As part of a land swap the Fort Collins City Council initially approved a couple weeks ago, a 143-acre chunk of land will be home to AVA Solar, Inc., a new company that developed an efficient process for manufacturing photovoltaic cells.

AVA officials said the process for making the company's cells, which convert the sun's light into electricity, will be safe, clean and as environmentally friendly as the product.

"We're going to set high standards for ourselves in terms of production and everything else," said Russell Kanjorski, director of strategic planning for AVA Solar. "It would be a little ironic if we had a process that was not environmentally sound to make a product that is environmentally sound. So we intend on making the whole thing sound."

Many of the materials used to make solar cells are toxic and even deadly, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The type AVA will use -- a composite of cadmium and tellurium called cadmium telluride, or CdTe -- is seen by some as a better use of already-existing dangerous substances. Cadmium is a byproduct of the zinc mining process, and if it isn't needed, it is discharged into the environment or put in a pile at a mine.

The metal has such good conductivity that it's commonly used in batteries, often with nickel -- anyone with a digital camera has probably heard of a "NiCad" -- or nickel cadmium -- battery. When those run out, however, they're often tossed into a landfill, where the metals can leach into the soil or groundwater. Cadmium compounds can cause kidney problems, fatal swelling of the lungs, and cancer, according to the Brookhaven National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy program that has conducted extensive research into PV cells.

AVA Solar's cadmium telluride cells will sequester that harmful metal far better than any battery would, and they will provide much more energy as well, he said. Cadmium telluride PV cells will have less cadmium than a C battery and generate 2,500 times the electricity, according to the Brookhaven lab.

» The Past

Even long before talk of cadmium telluride and photons, the land AVA will one day occupy was used as a place to dispose of municipal waste, namely the galaxy of toxins, heavy metals, bacteria and pollutants found in sewer sludge, the byproduct of the city's wastewater treatment facility.

Starting around 1980, Fort Collins Utilities started applying municipal sludge onto the 143-acre parcel in question, at the southwest corner of Prospect Road and Interstate 25. The property, known as the Resource Recovery Farm, was originally 325 acres and was a working farm, primarily raising corn, according to information in city documents and on the city's Web site.

The sludge included treated biosolids, which are nutrient and phosphorous-rich and make good fertilizer for plants. But they also include toxic materials, including dioxin, pesticides, heavy metals and various kinds of bacteria and parasites, according to research compiled in a 1995 book, "Toxic Sludge is Good For You," about the public relations industry.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that about seven million tons of biosolids are generated in the United States every year. As of 2002, about 60 percent was being applied onto land, according to the EPA. Fort Collins applies about 1,900 dry tons of sludge a year to its newer sludge application site, Meadow Springs Ranch, according to the utilities department.

The city bought Meadow Springs -- a 26,000-acre ranch 26 miles north of Fort Collins, in Weld County that runs to the Wyoming border -- in 1990 and began using it a while later. The land is leased to a cattle grazing association.

As Meadow Springs started operations, parts of the Resource Recovery Farm began being acquired by the city's Natural Areas program, to become part of Running Deer Natural Area. The most recent acquisition was in 2003, when the city council directed the Natural Areas program to acquire 151 acres in the interest of protecting open space near I-25.

Now, much of that land -- 118 acres -- is being traded to Colorado State University, plus another 25-acre chunk, and that's where AVA will eventually be located.

Thirty-three acres will stay in the city's hands, to protect Box Elder Creek and the Poudre River. The rest will be home to a decidedly more advanced type of toxic-materials research and development.

CONCERNS

» Most concerns about AVA Solar's production of cadmium telluride photovoltaic cells center on what would happen if the material was released into the environment.

One way this could happen is if they catch on fire, which releases the cadmium. But the compound's melting point is 1,041 degrees Celsius, according to the Brookhaven lab. The potential for that kind of heat would only happen in a huge industrial fire -- and in that case, the fire itself would probably pose a bigger hazard than any potential emissions of cadmium or other PV materials, the lab said in a report.

» To address concerns about the cells going into a landfill once they stop working, after about 20 years, AVA plans to create an end-of-life recycling program to get the materials back.

» Cadmium telluride cells are a 50-50 combination of the two elements, which are bound together as strongly as sodium and chlorine are in table salt, said Russell Kanjorski, director of strategic planning for AVA Solar. Alone, each element is harmful, but together it becomes "relatively speaking, benign. You lock the cadmium up," he said.

» AVA treats the elements as hazardous materials. Employees have to wear masks around the material and it is isolated from workers as much as possible.