MEAD- A few hundred sacks of contaminated solid waste will remain at AltEn for the time being after state regulators intervened in the former ethanol plant’s plan to sell biochar to a Kansas landowner.

The biofuel plant, where seed coated with pesticides was turned into ethanol along with highly contaminated solid and liquid byproducts, told the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy it found a buyer for the charred distiller’s grains in December.

But the Topeka-area landscape company owner who initially agreed to remove the biochar from AltEn told the Journal Star he wasn’t aware of the ethanol plant’s operations and history of running afoul of state environmental regulations until this month.

“Once I learned it was under investigation, it was just a no,” said Brady Yingling, owner of B. Cole Agriculture, which was identified by AltEn as the buyer in records kept by the state.

Yingling said he has long been interested in biochar as a substitute for chemical fertilizers, using the natural product — most often, biochar is wood turned into charcoal — in place of anhydrous ammonia, nitrogen or petroleum-based products.

His plan, he said in a phone interview, was to apply biochar to the fields surrounding his home north of the Kansas capital, measure the results and promote the method to farmers as a cheaper organic option for improving soil health.

In the market for the product, he said he reached an agreement with AltEn to purchase the biochar in November.

Tanner Shaw, AltEn’s president, told the state in a Dec. 27 letter the biochar would be land applied to corn and soybean acres. He disputed an analysis of the product that found it heavily contaminated with neonicotinoids, pesticides commonly used in seed treatments.

Testing done by the state ultimately found trace amounts of pesticides in air emissions coming from the biochar system, while a sample of the biochar itself showed concentrations well above the recommended rate set by the chemicals' manufacturers.

"Therefore, NDEE continues to consider the biochar to be a solid waste," the agency told AltEn in a March 26, 2021, letter. "Due to the nature of the pesticides contained in the waste, NDEE is prohibiting land application."

Green Disposal Mead later told the department in October 2021 it was decommissioning the biochar unit, leading to questions from the state on what was happening to the machine, as well as the sacks of charred wet cake remaining at AltEn.

AltEn's response, in turn, brought Yingling to the state's attention.

"The last thing I want is to bring a product to this community that would harm anyone," he said. "I'm glad I didn't get in the middle of it."

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