Rhode Island is paying to handle ~895,000 tons of manufacturing feedstock every year — with a single aging disposal point, a hard 2027 infrastructure deadline, and no in-state industrial alternative on the horizon.
The Woonsocket Thermal Conversion Facility — the state's primary regional sludge incinerator, serving 30+ municipalities — will lose its Synagro Technologies processing contractor in 2027. The City has voted unanimously to close the facility. Rhode Island statute prohibits combustion-based waste-to-energy incineration — a constraint that blocked every prior alternative for four decades. Carbotura's Advanced Circular Manufacturing facility is not a combustion facility. The MCR process operates in a closed, oxygen-free (anoxic), sub-atmospheric environment with zero combustion at any stage. ACM is classified NAICS 335991/325120/331410 (manufacturing) — not NAICS 562213 (solid waste combustion). Rhode Island's RIDEM reviews ACM under manufacturing facility permitting, not solid waste regulations. An EPA RCRA Solid Waste Exclusion Petition filed February 20, 2026 documents the federal basis for this manufacturing classification. The prohibition that eliminated every prior alternative does not apply here.
What Rhode Island currently spends. The blended cost of disposing of the state's identified manufacturing feedstock — municipal solid waste, wastewater biosolids, incinerator ash, and legacy coal ash — is estimated at $101.67 per ton statewide. ESTIMATED That represents approximately $83.5 million in annual system-wide disposal cost on the identified streams, and it escalates at approximately 3% per year with no mechanism to reduce it. When the Woonsocket incinerator exits in 2027, municipalities without an alternative face out-of-state disposal at $89–160+ per ton — a cost already being paid by at least one RI municipality today.
What Carbotura offers. Carbotura proposes a 30-year Circular Operating Agreement to site, finance, build, and operate a Circular Materials Manufacturing Facility in Rhode Island — at zero state capital obligation. The facility converts the state's existing manufacturing feedstock into domestic industrial materials: carbon products, hydrogen, and ultrapure water. Rhode Island's only financial commitment is a Total Materials Conversion (TMC) Fee of $100 per ton — at or below the current blended disposal cost — with a Circular Royalty flowing back to the state beginning 13 months after first operations. This is a Build-Own-Operate structure. Private capital leads. The state does not fund the facility.
Timeline alignment. Under the Carbotura standard deployment schedule, a Community Feasibility Study authorized in Q2 2026 produces Phase Initial operations — at 400 TPD — by approximately Q2 2028, before the full 2027 sludge displacement crisis propagates to out-of-state routes. Phase Medium (800 TPD) follows at approximately Q4 2029; Phase Expanded (1,200 TPD) at Q4 2031. At Phase Expanded, the facility processes 396,000 tons per year — diverting 44% of identified state feedstock from the Central Landfill and extending its operational life by an estimated 15+ years without new landfill construction. ESTIMATED
Gross cost displacement is quantified separately from Circular Royalty cash flow. Full net fiscal position reflects both.
At steady state, the Circular Royalty is designed to exceed the TMC Fee on a per-ton basis.
Circular Royalty payments begin 13 months after corresponding TMC Fee payments and ramp to full run-rate on a rolling basis. This is not an annual switch-on event — each TMC Fee payment generates a corresponding Circular Royalty payment 13 months later.
| Parameter | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Addressable feedstock — Phase Initial | 400 TPD · 132,000 TPY | LOCKED |
| Total identified state feedstock | ~895,000 TPY / 2,452 TPD EST | RIRRC data + public sources |
| Current blended disposal cost (FWDC) | ~$101.67/ton EST | Modeled — Waste Study §3.3 |
| TMC Fee — Year 1 | $100.00/ton | LOCKED |
| Gross cost displacement — Year 1/ton | +$1.67/ton vs. current system EST | EIR §4.1 |
| Circular Royalty — Year 1 | $0 — pre-royalty period (Months 1–12) | LOCKED |
| Circular Royalty — lag | 13 months after each corresponding TMC payment · rolling monthly | LOCKED |
| Net position — Year 2 | +$17.50/ton · +$2.31M/yr EST | EIR §4.5 |
| Net position — Year 30 | +$91/ton · +$12.0M/yr EST | EIR §4.5 |
| 30-year cumulative net — Phase Expanded | ~$460M EST | EIR §4.5 |
| State capital obligation | $0 — full BOO structure, private capital | LOCKED |
| Hard deadline — Synagro contract expiry | 2027 · contractually fixed | VERIFIED — Valley Breeze March 2026 |
| Procurement decision deadline | Q2 2026 — Authorize Feasibility Study | VERIFIED schedule |
| Phase Initial COD | ~Q2 2028 (T0+24 months) EST | Carbotura standard schedule |
| First Circular Royalty payment | ~Q3 2029 (T0+37 months) EST | 13 months after Phase Initial COD |
| Direct employment — Phase Initial / Expanded | 120 FTE / 360 FTE EST | Carbotura standard parameters |
| Landfill life extension — Phase Expanded | +15+ years EST | EIR §5.2 — diversion model |
| Annual sludge displacement avoided (post-2027) | ~$5.2–7.5M/yr EST | vs. out-of-state routes at $89–160+/ton |
The irreversible event is the expiry of the Synagro Technologies processing contract at the Woonsocket Thermal Conversion Facility. This is a contractual date — not an estimate — and the City of Woonsocket has voted unanimously not to extend or replace it. It cannot be re-opened by state action.
If the Community Feasibility Study authorization slips past Q2 2026, Phase Initial COD moves past Q2 2028 — after the Woonsocket system exits. Municipalities already relying on that facility will have committed to multi-year out-of-state disposal contracts at $89–160+ per ton, locking in displacement costs that reduce the available Phase Initial feedstock and add ~$1.5 million in incremental state-system costs for each quarter of delay. ESTIMATED
At full Phase Expanded deployment, diverting 396,000 TPY from the Central Landfill reduces landfill intake by 44% — adding an estimated 15+ years of operational life to Rhode Island's only disposal facility without new landfill siting, community opposition, or capital appropriation. Every year that deployment delays is a year of landfill capacity consumed that cannot be recovered.
Carbotura solves three live problems simultaneously: the Central Landfill capacity constraint — without new landfill expansion; the 2027 sludge infrastructure collapse — without the state funding a replacement; and the absence of advanced manufacturing capacity — without new industrial subsidies. At Phase Expanded, the facility produces domestic battery-grade synthetic graphite, green hydrogen, recovered metals, and aromatic hydrocarbons — all specification-grade manufactured commodities sold at commercial product prices. ACM creates 360 high-wage industrial jobs and generates an estimated $84 million in annual regional economic activity. Federal IRA credits strengthen the investment case: § 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Credits (up to $3.00/kg hydrogen produced), § 45Q Carbon Capture Credits (Ash Carbonation), and § 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Credits (battery-grade graphite + critical minerals) — all requiring manufacturing NAICS classification, which ACM holds. ESTIMATED
The Community Feasibility Study is the only decision required today. It commits no capital, creates no disposal obligations, and does not execute the COA. It produces the verified cost data, confirmed site designation, and refined TPD allocation needed to advance to a Circular Operating Agreement. Duration: 3 months. Carbotura absorbs the study costs.
- Verified FWDC — replaces the modeled $101.67/ton planning figure with contracted disposal rates
- Site designation — P1 (Johnston/RIRRC campus) confirmed or P2/P3 selected
- Stream allocation — precise Phase Initial TPD breakdown across MSW and sludge
- Regulatory pathway — DEM/EPA coordination, RIRRC site agreement framework, permitting timeline
- Agency alignment — RI Commerce, OER, and RI Infrastructure Bank coordination confirmed
Financial projections: Carbotura Circular Advantage modeling. TMC Fee formula, Royalty structure, and CapEx parameters: Carbotura standard contractual parameters per MI v3.0 — locked. All financial figures marked ESTIMATED unless otherwise noted. Hard deadline (2027 Synagro contract expiry) marked VERIFIED per public reporting. Contact: info[at]carbotura.com