Rhode Island
Circular Supply Proposal

• What is being offered. Carbotura proposes a 30-year Circular Operating Agreement (CSA) under a full Build-Own-Operate structure. Carbotura designs, finances, constructs, and operates the ACM facility at no cost to the State. Rhode Island's sole financial commitment is the Beneficiation Fee — a per-ton payment for feedstock conversion that is designed to be at or below the State's current blended disposal cost.
• What the State commits. Feedstock delivery under existing RIRRC statutory aggregation mechanisms; authorization of a Joint Working Group phase (3 months); designation of a Priority 1 site candidate for permitting. No capital appropriation required.
• What the State receives. Gross cost displacement from Day 1 (TMC replaces higher blended disposal costs). Circular Royalty™ payments beginning 13 months after Phase Initial operations commence — structured to exceed the Beneficiation Fee per ton at steady state. Employment: 120 direct FTE at Phase Initial; 360 direct FTE at Phase Expanded. ESTIMATED
• The hard deadline. The 2027 expiry of the Synagro Technologies contract at the Woonsocket Thermal Conversion Facility is a procurement-forcing event. A Joint Working Group phase authorized in Q2 2026 places Phase Initial COD at Q2 2028 — before the 2027 Woonsocket crisis requires out-of-state sludge displacement at $160+/ton for 30+ municipalities.
• Gross cost displacement is quantified separately from Circular Royalty™ cash flow.

§1.1 — Circular Operating Agreement Structure

§1.2 — Decision Window

§2.1 — Phase Configuration

Module math: ceil(deployment_tpd / 100). CapEx: $75M first 100 TPD module + $57.5M per additional 100 TPD module. Operating days: 330/year. All CapEx funded by Carbotura — zero state obligation.

§2.2 — BOO Capital Structure

§2.3 — Feedstock Stream Coverage by Phase

§2.4 — Site Candidate Analysis

Site Candidate Summary

§2.5 — Phase Initial Feedstock Sufficiency

§3.1 — FWDC Planning Basis

§3.2 — Beneficiation Fee Formula

§3.3 — Annual TMC Obligation by Phase

TMC Year N = $100 × (1.025)^(N−1). Phase Medium throughput begins T0+42 months; Phase Expanded T0+60 months. Pre-royalty period (Year 1) shaded: no royalty received during this period.

At CSA execution, the State of Rhode Island The Exogenesis™ add-on (Central Landfill, Johnston RI) is a CSA add-on available for discussion — activation requires Waste Characterization Study, qualifying asset confirmation, and mutual agreement.

Application Note: Both options are commercially available to Rhode Island as a state public authority.

Carbotura standard deployment schedule. T0 assumed January 2026 for planning purposes; subject to Term Sheet phase verification and authorization timing. All dates ESTIMATED.

§7.1 — Direct Fiscal Effects (State Treasury / RIRRC)

§7.2 — Regional Economic Effects

Regional economic effects are separate from and in addition to direct fiscal effects. Combining them would misrepresent the community's fiscal position. Employment and economic figures: Carbotura standard parameters scaled to 120 direct FTE per 400 TPD module. ESTIMATED

1. Volume alignment. Rhode Island generates approximately 895,000 TPY of identifiable manufacturing feedstock across four confirmed streams. Phase Expanded at 1,200 TPD requires 396,000 TPY — 44% of identified feedstock. Phase Initial at 400 TPD requires 132,000 TPY — 14.8% of identified feedstock. Volume sufficiency is not a constraint at any phase.
2. Infrastructure alignment. The Priority 1 site — the RIRRC Johnston campus — has the feedstock aggregation mechanism built in by statute. R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-19 requires all 39 municipalities to deliver residential waste to Johnston. An ACM facility on or adjacent to the RIRRC campus receives its primary feedstock stream at zero transport cost. No other state in the programme offers this degree of feedstock co-location certainty.
3. Contract timing alignment. The 2027 Synagro contract expiry at Woonsocket is a hard, publicly documented deadline. A Joint Working Group phase authorized in Q2 2026 produces a Phase Initial COD of Q2 2028 under the Carbotura standard schedule — before full sludge system collapse. The deployment window is not a projection; it is a demonstrated timeline against a fixed external event.
4. Policy alignment. Rhode Island's combustion-based WTE prohibition has created a structural disposal gap for four decades. This prohibition targets NAICS 562213 (Solid Waste Combustion & Incineration) — it does not apply to ACM. ACM's Microwave Catalytic Reforming (MCR) process operates in a closed, oxygen-free (anoxic), sub-atmospheric environment: combustion is mechanistically excluded by design. ACM is classified NAICS 325180 (Other Basic Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing), 325998 (All Other Misc. Chemical Product Manufacturing), 327992 (Ground or Treated Mineral and Earth Manufacturing), 331110 (Iron and Steel Mills and Ferroalloy Manufacturing), 331314 (Secondary Smelting and Alloying of Aluminum), and 331492 (Secondary Smelting, Refining of Nonferrous Metal). Rhode Island's RIDEM reviews ACM under manufacturing facility permitting — not solid waste facility regulations. Manufacturing classification (NAICS 31–33) — grounded in RCRA §1004(27) and 40 CFR §261.2(e) — eliminates the "discarded material" predicate at title transfer under the Circular Supply Agreement. ACM's internal hydrogen is generated to power the facility and returns as net-positive ultrapure water — not sold externally, not eligible for § 45V; Ash Carbonation (CaO + CO₂ → CaCO₃) qualifies for § 45Q Carbon Capture Credits; domestic battery-grade synthetic graphite and critical minerals production qualifies for § 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Credits — all requiring manufacturing NAICS classification. RI's Act on Climate (45% GHG reduction by 2030) and the 100% renewable energy standard by 2033 further align with ACM's carbon capture profile and recovered-mineral output.
5. Organic mandate and regulatory driver. The Synagro 2027 deadline is the defining regulatory driver for this proposal. RIDEM's own administrator has confirmed that the entire state relies on the Woonsocket incinerator as a sludge disposal option. Rhode Island's food waste ban (2016) and mandatory recycling targets further compress acceptable disposal options. ACM absorbs contaminated and mixed streams that recycling facilities reject.
6. Economics specificity. The Beneficiation Fee of $100/ton is set at the Carbotura standard floor — applied here because Rhode Island's blended FWDC of $101.67/ton produces a formula result ($96.67) below the $100 floor. This is the minimum possible Beneficiation Fee under the standard framework, and it is below the verified out-of-state sludge disposal rate of $160+/ton already being paid by West Warwick today. The economic case does not depend on projection — it is verifiable against existing procurement costs paid in the current fiscal year.

• Beneficiation Fee ($100/ton): User-specified; confirmed against FWDC formula result. Source: Carbotura registry lock.
• FWDC ($101.67/ton MODELED): Derived from RIRRC tipping fee schedule (FY2023 $54/ton municipal, extrapolated); West Warwick sludge disposal cost (RI Current, February 2026, $160+/ton verified); RIRRC commercial rate (~$115–130/ton estimated). Full derivation: Waste Study §3.3.
• Circular Royalty™ parameters: Carbotura standard defaults — locked per MI v3.0. No external source required.
• CapEx formula: Carbotura standard — $75M first 100 TPD + $57.5M per additional 100 TPD. Locked per MI v3.0.
• Site candidates: P1 — RIRRC (rirrc.org); P2 — ProvPort (provport.com); P3 — Quonset Development Corporation (quonset.com). Driving distances: Google Maps estimates, March 2026.
• 2027 Synagro deadline: Valley Breeze (March 2026); Rhode Island Current (September 2025). Contractual expiry confirmed via public reporting.
• WTE prohibition: ecoRI.org (April 2025). Statutory reference: Rhode Island General Assembly.
• Employment / economic impact: Carbotura standard parameters scaled at 120 direct FTE per 400 TPD module. ESTIMATED.
• Carbon displacement: Carbotura standard parameters. ESTIMATED.

BOO — Build-Own-Operate

A project delivery structure in which Carbotura designs, finances, constructs, owns, and operates the ACM facility at no capital cost to the State. Rhode Island's sole financial obligation is the per-ton Beneficiation Fee.

Circular Royalty™

A structured per-ton cash payment from Carbotura to the State, calculated as Royalty(m+13) = TMC(m) × Royalty_Rate(m). Base rate: 120% of the current-year Beneficiation Fee. Escalates +1pp/year. Payment lag: 13 months. At steady state, designed to exceed the Beneficiation Fee on a per-ton basis.

CSA — Circular Operating Agreement

The 30-year commercial contract governing feedstock delivery, Beneficiation Fee, Circular Royalty™ payments, and operational parameters between Carbotura and the State.

FWDC — Fully Weighted Disposal Cost

The blended per-ton cost of disposing of all feedstock streams under current system economics. For Rhode Island, FWDC = $101.67/ton (MODELED). Used as the reference for Beneficiation Fee formula. Derivation disclosed in Waste Study §3.3.

Gross Cost Displacement

The annual reduction in disposal cost resulting from substituting the Beneficiation Fee for the FWDC. In Year 1, Rhode Island's gross cost displacement is approximately +$0.53/ton (FWDC $101.67 minus TMC $100.00 = $1.67/ton, plus transport savings where applicable). Quantified separately from Circular Royalty™ cash flow.

Fiscal Flows, Shown Separately

The sum of gross cost displacement plus Circular Royalty™ payments minus Beneficiation Fee obligations, expressed per ton and in total annual dollars. Year 1: −$100/ton (pre-royalty).

Pre-Royalty Period

Months 1–12 following first feedstock delivery. During this period, the State pays the Beneficiation Fee and receives zero Circular Royalty™. The first Circular Royalty™ payment arrives in Month 13, covering the first month's TMC payment at 120% of that amount.

Beneficiation Fee — Total Materials Conversion Fee

The per-ton fee paid by the State to Carbotura for converting feedstock into industrial products. Formula: MAX($100, MIN($150, FWDC − $5)). For Rhode Island: $100/ton (floor applies; FWDC − $5 = $96.67 < $100 floor). Escalates 2.5%/year.