BURNING TRASH FOR ELECTRICITY
Plasma turns garbage into gas that powers a turbine at a Japanese facilityWhat could be better than a power station that eats up dirty landfill and churns out clean electricity? One facility in Utashinai, Japan, has been doing just that since 2003, using plasma to process up to 220 tons of municipal solid waste a day. Now a bigger and better $425 million plant is scheduled for completion by 2009 in Saint Lucie County, Florida. The operator, Atlanta-based Geoplasma, expects it to generate 160 megawatts of electricity—enough to power 36,000 homes—from a daily diet of trash.
At the plant, garbage will be superheated to more than 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit—about the temperature of the sun’s surface—by a NASA-developed plasma torch. Organic components will be gasifed by the heat; the inorganic remainder will be melted and removed. Syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, will be extracted from the gas output and used to drive turbines and generate electricity. Gases from the plant will be processed to remove dangerous compounds like dioxins, and the company pledges that emissions will be well under state and federal environmental limits. Heavy metals from the inorganic dross will be collected and sold as scrap.
The Florida facility will be built right next to a large landfill, which the company will dig into at a daily rate of 1,000 tons—along with 2,000 tons of brand-new trash to be trucked in. Geoplasma is negotiating contracts to sell three-quarters of the electricity generated by the plant to a utility company.
Let’s review: a power station that reduces garbage and creates enough “clean” electricity to power 36,000 homes… why aren’t there one of these facilities next to every landfill?
Shoutout to Geoplasma for helping to pioneer the alchemy of turning garbage into gold.
Click on the links for more information:
At the plant, garbage will be superheated to more than 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit—about the temperature of the sun’s surface—by a NASA-developed plasma torch. Organic components will be gasifed by the heat; the inorganic remainder will be melted and removed. Syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, will be extracted from the gas output and used to drive turbines and generate electricity. Gases from the plant will be processed to remove dangerous compounds like dioxins, and the company pledges that emissions will be well under state and federal environmental limits. Heavy metals from the inorganic dross will be collected and sold as scrap.
The Florida facility will be built right next to a large landfill, which the company will dig into at a daily rate of 1,000 tons—along with 2,000 tons of brand-new trash to be trucked in. Geoplasma is negotiating contracts to sell three-quarters of the electricity generated by the plant to a utility company.
Let’s review: a power station that reduces garbage and creates enough “clean” electricity to power 36,000 homes… why aren’t there one of these facilities next to every landfill?
Shoutout to Geoplasma for helping to pioneer the alchemy of turning garbage into gold.
Click on the links for more information:
2 comments:
woah plasma torches!!!
i had no idea those existed except in futuristic sci fi civilizations.
this is great news, electrash!
may the revolution burn on
Geoplasma has never built anything ever I find it fishy that they believe they can create a 3000 ton per day in 2 years when they have no experience building plasma systems.
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