CROWN POINT | Porter County, LaPorte County and Chicago may join Lake County in a plan to convert garbage into biofuel products.

The Lake County Solid Waste Management District Board is set to meet Jan. 31 to review a consultant's analysis of two Indiana companies offering to build multimillion-dollar plants to convert trash into ethanol.

Jeff Langbehn, director of the Lake County Solid Waste Management District, said last week the board will be asked to accept or reject proposals from Genahol-Powers 1 LLC and Indiana Ethanol Power LLC, both of Evansville.

However, Langbehn said there is a possibility both plants could be built if there is enough waste to support them. And it could expand beyond Lake County.

"Since the proposal was first hatched, we have had a number of discussions with Porter County and LaPorte County and the city of Chicago about joining in this agreement because they believe in the process," Langbehn said. "When you take those communities along with our own waste, we have enough we could -- in fact -- support both of these facilities. That becomes a possibility, pending the outcome of this report."

J.W. Spear, a Milwaukee, Wis., engineering firm, is analyzing whether the garbage-to-ethanol proposals are technically feasible. The process remains experimental, although the federal government is funding start-up projects to reduce reliance on foreign petroleum. Langbehn said it isn't clear whether Spear will choose either firm.

Both companies promise low emissions and smell, but Langbehn said ethanol plants likely would be located on one of several north county industrial sites near railroad tracks to reduce opposition among residents.

A proposal in the mid-1990s to build a landfill in a remote south county area generated so much opposition that the district withdrew from an agreement to its construction.

Genahol proposes to crush and shred carbon-based solid waste such as paper, cardboard, wood and food waste, heating the mixture to 1,400 degrees in a low oxygen atmosphere, company officials said. The resulting gas would be distilled into ethanol.

Indiana Ethanol's approach is to ferment cellulosic materials -- including sludge from municipal treatment plants or large animal farms -- into the fuel.