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Incineration

Plasma Gasification Advances

Edward Yau and his proposed caveman mass -burn 850 degrees C incinerator technology that produces 1/3 of what is thermally converted  per day into toxic bottom and fly ash that needs landfilling – ad infinitum – hence the need to build offshore islands as ash lagoon tips

http://inboundmarketingexperts.ca/Portals/32983/images/caveman%20campfire.jpg

The sensible Option –  Plasma Gasification at 6,000 degrees C that has no ash residues, just plasmarok volcanic glass that can be used or mandated as road aggregate, with minimal emissions (steam) versus massive incineration pollutants and dioxins and ash residues

http://thepeoplegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Future_Is_Now.jpg

Plasma plants are modular and can be sited nearer to the waste sources or additional (150,000 TPA) modules added to a main site

Landfills can be reverse mined back to their original state using gasification technology and is underway now

http://www.advancedplasmapower.com/belgium-landfill-mining-project.aspx

Cathay Pacific could soon  be re-fuelling with bio jet fuel produced from a Solena Fuels gasification system – British Airways plant is under construction now as are agreements with SAS and Alitalia and other major airlines such as Lufthansa and US based airlines

http://www.solenafuels.com/sites/default/files/Press%20Release%20Solena%20Germany%20Sep%202012.pdf

http://news.newclear.server279.com/?p=4328

http://www.solenafuels.com/sites/default/files/Hi%20Life%20Green%20Page%20-%20August%202012.pdf

http://www.solenafuels.com/sites/default/files/Seven%20ATA%20Member%20Airlines%20sign%20LOI%20with%20Solena%20Fuels.pdf

“American Airlines and United Continental Holdings led the development of the agreement with Solena and were joined by five additional ATA member airlines – Alaska Airlines, FedEx,

JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and US Airways – and ATA associate member Air Canada in signing the letters of intent, as well as Frontier Airlines and Lufthansa German Airlines.

ATA is a cofounding and co-leading member of CAAFI, which is dedicated to the development and deployment of commercially viable, environmentally friendly

alternative aviation fuels.”

Bio marine fuel can be produced from a gasification system and one is being built now (Solena/Maersk) in New Jersey

http://news.newclear.server279.com/?p=5579

Download PDF : PlasmaGasifAdvance

U.S. Military Waste to Energy & Fuel Gasification Prototype V2.0

http://www.waste-management-world.com/articles/2012/12/u-s-military-waste-to-energy-fuel-gasification-prototype-v2-0.html

07 December 2012

U.S. Military scientists have made revisions to a prototype mobile waste gasification system which can produce power and fuel, the Tactical Garbage to Energy Refinery (TGER).

Developed by the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), the first two systems were initially deployed for 90 days at Camp Victory in Baghdad back in 2008.

The army said that the deployable machine tactically designed to convert military field waste into immediate usable energy for forward operating bases.

The biorefinery system is a trailer-mounted hybrid technology which the army said supports a 550 person unit generates around 2500 pounds (1130 kg) of waste per day, and converts paper, plastic, packaging and food waste into electricity via a standard 60 kW diesel generator.

“We picked a forward operating base in Iraq because we wanted to really stress the system,” explained Dr. James Valdes, a senior technologist at the U.S. Army ECBC.

“All other energy systems had been tested in laboratories or under ideal conditions and temperature climates. What we really wanted to do was stress it with heat, sand and real world trash in a low infrastructure environment,” continued Valdes.

“We learned an awful lot over there about what works, what doesn’t work and what’ll break,” he added.

As ECBC project director for TGER, Valdes is responsible for leading a team which has implemented the necessary re-engineering of the new prototype, TGER 2.0.

TGER V2.0

Among the modifications is an automated interface which uses a touch-screen panel, to make it easier for operators to input information and monitor every part of the machine, from oxygen levels in the gasifier-to-ethanol production and power output.

According to the ECBC while the machine used to take three technicians to operate it now takes two – one to feed the waste and another to monitor the progress.

But Valdes hopes that as the prototypes advance, TGER could eventually be used by one technician or Soldier.
The ECBC said that one of the most valuable lessons it learned while the TGER was deployed in Iraq was the realisation that the downdraft gasifier had a tendency to get clogged if there was too much plastic in the fuel pellets. Additionally, a large %age of the synthetic gas was inert and could not be used as viable fuel.

To fix the problem, Valdes’ team developed a horizontal gasifier with an auger device that rotates the waste, eliminating the mechanical step of pelletising the trash. The TGER 2.0 prototype also enables steam to be injected into the gasifier, which allows a larger conversion of output gas to become energetic.

According to Valdes, the old system produced 155 BTUs (British Thermal Unit)/cubic foot of gas, whereas the new TGER 2.0 prototype produces 550, more than tripling the amount of usable energy.

The ECBC also claimed that the new TGER 2.0 is environmentally friendly with its zero-carbon footprint.

“We think of garbage in terms of volume, not weight. There are things that take up a lot of space in landfills but they don’t weigh much, like Styrofoam,” explained Valdes.

“TGER reduces the volume of waste in 30 to one ratio. If you start off with 30 cubic yards of trash, you end up with one cubic yard of ash, and that ash has been tested by the Environmental Protection Agency. They call it a benign soil additive. You could actually throw it on your roses,” he added.

Power ups

The advanced prototype was shipped back to the manufacturer for modifications after undergoing a final field trial in September where the technology was tested to see how long it could run at the highest levels of garbage input before breaking down.

According to the ECBC, within two hours of powering on, TGER 2.0 can make synthetic gas which enables a generator to be run on about 75% power. Within 12 hours, alcohol is produced and blended with the synthetic gas to run on full power at a steady state if the machine is continually fed.

One of the innovations Valdes said he would like to capitalise on is recapturing the excess heat that the machine produces with a heat exchanger that can apply the energy to field sanitation and heating water.

Valdes added that the new TGER prototype could also be transitioned into the commercial sector.

“Longer term, we will be talking to project managers about transitioning it but we’ll also be talking to some companies that do things like support oil and gas operations in places such as Mongolia and parts of the world that are difficult to have camps in,” he said.

Read More

Mobile Waste Gasification Units for Military Applications
Idaho based waste to energy technology supplier, Dynamis Energy has launched its WasteStation – a mobile waste gasification unit with military, healthcare and hospitality applications.

Waste to Energy Could Power Australian Military
The Australian Minister for Defence Science & Personnel, Warren Snowdon has said that energy requirements for future troop deployments could be powered by waste to energy.

EWS Supplies Mobile Waste Incineration to Canadian Military
Ontario, Canada based advanced thermal treatment technology developer, Eco Waste Solutions (EWS), has been awarded a contract with the Canadian Department of National Defense for a mobile waste incineration system

U.S. Military Waste to Energy & Fuel Gasification Prototype V2.0

APP Webinar – Advanced Conversion: Maximising the Potential for Energy from Waste

http://www.advancedplasmapower.com/maximising-the-potential-for-energy-from-waste.aspx

Abramovich-Backed Ervington Invests in Waste2Tricity

http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/news-events/news-archive/2012/november/ervington-invests-in-waste2tricity

07 NOV 2012

Roman Abramovich

Following the recent share acquisition in AFC Energy, Ervington Investments, whose ultimate beneficial owner is Roman Abramovich, has acquired a 10% stake in the share capital of Waste2Tricity (W2T). AFC Energy is W2T’s strategic shareholder. Paul Heagren, a long standing employee of Mr Abramovich, will be joining W2T as a Non-Executive Director.

Ervington has also made a recent investment in Alter NRG, the plasma gasification company that is supplying technology to Air Products’ 50 MW advanced gasification waste-to-energy facility being constructed in Teesside, UK. Waste2Tricity is planning to retrofit AFC Energy fuel cells to the facility at a later date.

Peter Jones, Chairman of Waste2Tricity, said: “We are delighted to be able to announce the valuable addition of Paul Heagren to the board and the new relationship with RomanAbramovich’s company. We note Ervington’s recent investments in AFC Energy Plc, the low cost alkaline fuel cell company, and Alter NRG, the leading plasma gasification company. Waste2Tricity has a longstanding relationship with both of these companies and their technologies.”

SOURCE: ADAPTED FROM WASTE2TRICITY PRESS RELEASE

Photo: Marina Lystseva

Gas And Materials From Waste: An Interview With Rolf Stein

http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7495

http://www.azom.com/images/Article_Images/ImageForArticle_7495(1).jpg

Rolf Stein, CEO of Advanced Plasma Power, talks to AZoM about an innovative method of syngas production, which also produces material for the construction industry. Interview conducted by Gary Thomas.

GT: Could you please provide a brief introduction to the industry that Advanced Plasma Power works within and outline the key drivers?

RS: The European Union has set a number of targets to address climate change, energy security and the critical status of our waste management process, all of which are growing problems as populations swell and competition for resources increases. EU directives are seeking to address these challenges; the UK is required to generate 15% of its energy generation from renewable sources by 2020 and also reduce biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill to 35% of 1995 levels. The energy from waste industry is striving to help the UK meet these targets by diverting waste from landfill to generating renewable energy and heat.

GT: Could you please give a brief overview of Advanced Plasma Power?

RS: APP has developed a unique and patented advanced gasification process that uses waste to generate electricity and heat. APP has been operating its demonstration plant in Swindon since 2008.

GT: Could you explain the process behind the Gasplasma technology?

RS: APP has developed its Gasplasma® enhanced energy-from-waste technology, which is a proven, scalable and commercially viable means of generating renewable energy and heat. APP’s technology is the only existing process to combine two technologies in optimal conditions to maximise the efficiency of the gasification process ensuring there are no waste outputs and minimal emissions and environmental impact.

All non recyclable materials are shredded and dried to create Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), which is transformed into an unrefined synthesis gas (syngas) in the gasifier. The Plasma Converter then breaks down all organic long chain hydrocarbons producing a very clean, hydrogen-rich syngas – much cleaner than syngas produced by other technologies. This syngas is then used, for instance, in a power island to generate electricity.

The main outputs of the process are: a syngas, which can be used to generate electricity in gas engines or gas turbines, heat for use in local domestic and industrial buildings (or processes) and Plasmarok®, a solid product for use in construction.

GT: What are the applications of the resulting syngas?

RS: The syngas can be used to generate electricity directly in gas engines, gas turbines and/or fuel cells or it can be converted into hydrogen or other gaseous or liquid fuels.

Furthermore the syngas can be converted into bio-substitute natural gas (Bio-SNG) for injection into the national gas grid and distributed as a domestic and commercial heat/energy source. It is estimated that renewable gas, of which Bio-SNG could be a major source, could satisfy as much as one fifth of the UK’s heat demand (National Grid Gone Green 2050 scenario). APP entered into an agreement with National Grid in April 2012 to build a demonstration plant delivering an end-to-end process for the production of bio-SNG from waste.

GT: The solid material produced via this process is Plasmarok – could you please give an overview of this material and its applications?

RS: All inorganic materials resulting from the process are made inert and vitrified into an environmentally benign product call Plasmarok®. The UK Environment Agency classifies it as a product not a waste, which can be sold for instance as an aggregate for construction, generating additional revenue streams.

GT: Are the physical properties of Plasmarok comparable to other building materials?

RS: Yes, the Plasmarok has to comply with the same physical and mechanical testing standards as materials produced from primary sources.

GT: Is the process scalable?

RS: The plant process is designed to be modular and scalable so it can be easily installed unobtrusively on the edge of towns and cities; the plant is intended to be local, providing waste management and energy supply for local communities. The plant fits into a standard industrial warehouse as seen in most edge of town business parks and has very low emissions. This reduces the distances waste needs to be transported and maximises the potential for heat recovery and use. The Gasplasma® process complies with the European Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) as it relates to EU plants and employs emissions control technology that ensures that these emission limits are easily met, so it can be sited near population hubs without any impact on human health or the local environment.

GT: Where are you current projects situated?

RS: APP’s demonstration plant has been operating in Swindon since 2008 and the company has an active project pipeline, including a number of waste to energy projects in the UK, Europe and around the World.

GT: Do you have any plans to expand operations in the near future?

RS: We will expand as we move forward with our project pipeline.

GT: Advanced Plasma Power is a carbon negative company – could you please explain the idea of ‘carbon negative’ and how this is achieved?

RS: The carbon savings that are attainable from the APP Gasplasma process have been independently evaluated for APP by the consultant, Wardell Armstrong. The process lifecycle analysis was undertaken under standard (EU-ETS and DEFRA) Carbon reporting methodologies. Various scenarios were considered in quantifying the net Green House Gas (GHG) emission flux from the Gasplasma system. The baseline scenario considered energy recovery by way of the utilisationof Combined Heat and Power, CHP plant at projected net energy efficiency (NEF) of 67.2 %. The CHP mode of the plant is integral to the process as waste heat recovery boilers are designed into the process and provide all of the steam required by the process whilst also producing power from a steam turbine.

In the case of this base-line scenario the Gasplasma process attained a very low CO2 equivalent emission value, with an overall carbon negative footprint of -779 kg CO2 eq/ tonne MSW input, this equates to -433 kg CO2 eq/ MWh based on a Net CV factor of 9.62 GJ/T MSW Input3. The level of -433 kg CO2 eq/ MWh can be compared to conventional generation related emissions which for grid consumed electrical power is +547 kg CO2 eq/ MWh3 – this figure is based on a rolling average as specified by DEFRA considering all UK generation sources both fossil and non-fossil derived as from Coal, Natural Gas, Fuel oil, Nuclear and Renewables. Therefore the APP Gasplasma process can be viewed as being a negative emission source in regard to a comparison to average electrical power generation from the UK national grid.

GT: What are the further environmental benefits of using Advanced Plasma Power’s process?

RS: The most notable benefits from the Gasplasma® process are the significant reductions in carbon emissions as compared with incineration or landfill. APP’s process is very efficient and it puts every output to use with very limited environmental impact. Furthermore the many applications ensure that the technology can be used in applications beyond waste to energy.

The production of renewable fuels from waste will be important as will improvements in energy generation efficiency, which will allow a reduction in the cost of managing our waste and even make the mining of landfill sites for the recovery of material and fuels a reality. The sites would thereby be remediated and prevented from releasing further harmful emissions.

Date Added: Oct 12, 2012 | Updated: Nov 4, 2012

Fuel Cell Technology: Gasification Game Changer?

http://www.waste-management-world.com/index/display/article-display/7429231556/articles/waste-management-world/volume-12/issue-6/features/fuel-cell-technology-gasification-game-changer.html?cmpid=EnlWMW_WTEOctober22012

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Stacked: hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe but the challenge is how to unlock it as a fuel. Could waste gasification processes be the answer?

Waste to Energy is increasingly attracting column inches as a potential solution to two major UK challenges: namely renewable energy production and heavy reliance on landfill. Peter Jones explores how integrating alkaline fuel cells into a WtE plant can boost net output of electricity by a minimum of 60%.

Traditionally, electrical power generation has relied on combustion. Fuel is burnt (oxidised) either producing heat to boil water for steam or directly expanding as gas, and generates enough pressure to move a piston or a turbine blade. In other words the chemical energy of the fuel is first converted to mechanical energy before it can generate electrical energy. At each of these conversion steps energy is lost, chiefly as heat. But what if you could cut out the middleman and generate electrical power directly from the fuel without using a mechanical engine and so avoiding energy losses?

This is the world of electro-chemistry and the role fuel cells play – generating electricity from chemical reactions without combustion. Batteries have traditionally occupied this space, cells of chemicals which can release electricity on demand wherever we are. This is fine for small scale applications, but a real challenge when it comes to sustained generation and megawatt scales. One contender to fill this space is the fuel cell, which has recently seen rapid development.

Origins in space

Fuel cells were first demonstrated in the 1830s, by Welshman, Sir William Grove. It took another 120 years before GE demonstrated the first commercial fuel cell application as part of the U.S. Gemini space mission. During the 1950s, English scientist Francis Bacon developed a 5 kW alkaline fuel cell for stationary power generation and the technology was licensed to Pratt and Whitney for use in the U.S. space programme.

A proposed facility in Teeside will see waste gasification and fuel cell technologies combining

The majority of fuel cells use hydrogen (H2) as feedstock which reacts with oxygen to form water, electricity and heat. Although the chemistry seems simple, developing fuel cells capable of sustained operation has not been trivial. Those with chemistries greater than 100 degrees centigrade are capable of producing steam as a by-product, but have to be engineered to withstand pressure and prevent surfaces becoming so hot that they become an ignition source. All of this adds to the cost of the fuel cell system. Alternatively, more recently developed fuel cell systems can operate below 100 degrees centigrade and be manufactured from low cost materials including plastics.

As the chemical reaction producing electricity is exothermic, heat can build up within the fuel cell stack. Unless controlled, this will lead to failures due to temperature gradients and thermal cycling. Some fuel cell systems use a solid electrolyte to manage this unwanted heat with blowers and heat-sink materials. However, keeping the fuel cell stack within the desired temperature range detracts from the potential efficiency of the system.

Tough: cells must be constructed to retain and seal the hydrogen

One way around this is to use a liquid electrolyte, as in the alkaline fuel cell system. This liquid electrolyte (usually potassium hydroxide) can be circulated through the fuel cell stack at the rate required carry away sufficient heat to keep the fuel cell operating at a specific temperature. Although the pump required to do this will use some of the power produced, a liquid electrolyte can also be used to transport the water produced away from the stack, where it can evaporate from the electrolyte and condense.

Another aspect requiring significant attention in the fuel itself is the hydrogen. As the smallest molecule, sealing hydrogen within the fuel cell system can be problematic. First, the system must be constructed from materials that will retain the hydrogen and not react adversely with it. Sealing the hydrogen within fuel cell systems that operate at high temperatures and pressures is an engineering challenge.

Unlocking hydrogen’s efficiency as a fuel

So where does all the hydrogen come from? Well it is the most abundant element in the universe, it is all around us. The question is how can it be unlocked efficiently to be used as a fuel? There are several methods.

The first is electrolysis of water, H2O. The chlor-alkali industry typically electrolyses brine to produce chlorine, caustic soda (NaOH) and hydrogen. This hydrogen is an excellent potential source of fuel for fuel cells and several companies are targeting this market, with global potential for more than 300 MW of power generation.Electrolysers can also be used to generate hydrogen from water using surplus electricity from renewable sources such as wind, wave and solar. One of the challenges of these forms of renewable energy is that they are intermittent – you can have too much at one time and not enough at others. By converting the surplus, low value, electricity into hydrogen there is the possibility of using it later to generate electricity with fuel cells at peak times when electricity is more valuable.

Fuel cells and waste

The second process for generating hydrogen is reforming. Here hydrogen is extracted from hydrocarbons through a chemical reaction, typically accelerated through the use of catalysts. One common process for doing this is steam methane reforming (SMR). In this process methane is reacted with steam at temperature and pressure in the presence of a catalyst, to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide can then be reacted with water to produce more hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Water from the fuel cell provides the majority of the water required for the production of steam in the reformer.

We could soon see the use of fuel cells with methane from anaerobic digestion technologies. Although reforming uses some of the available energy to generate hydrogen, this is more than compensated for by the efficiency of the fuel cell system, resulting in lower carbon emissions per unit of electricity generated. When the feedstock is bio-methane rather than natural gas, carbon emissions plummet. If the captured carbon dioxide can be used or stored, it could even become carbon negative.

The third source is gasification. In this process hydrocarbons are gasified to produce a synthesis gas. Municipal solid waste (MSW) or commercial waste can be gasified, usually after conversion to refuse derived fuel (RDF) by removing glass, metals and in-organics and potentially some drying and shredding. RDF typically contains plastics, papers and biological derived hydrocarbons.

In each case the synthesis gas is cleaned so that it contains predominantly hydrogen and carbon monoxide. In an additional step the carbon monoxide is reacted with water to produce more hydrogen and carbon dioxide, known as a water-gas shift reaction.

Hydrogen is separated using either a membrane or a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit, a device that contains an adsorbent material that will preferentially adsorb one gas from a mixture over another at pressure. As the pressure is released, only one of the gasses is evacuated from the unit. PSAs operate on a batch process.

There are few fuel cell companies targeting markets for multi-megawatt applications. One fast emerging contender is UK based AIM listed company, AFC Energy plc, which as the name suggests focuses on energy generation using alkaline fuel cells. AFC recently delivered and installed two of its commercial scale units at AkzoNobel’schlor-alkali plant in Bitterfeld, Germany.

Known as the Beta system, these units are modular, cartridge-based units which can be installed in phases. When cartridges need replacing they are simply isolated, removed and replaced, or hot-swapped, without having to be turned off. Even the fuel cell cartridges can be disassembled, the electrodes cleaned, re-coated with catalyst and reassembled.

While these systems are still at a relatively early stage of field testing, they have already been designed into several projects. One of these is Air Products’ proposed 49MW waste-to-energy plant in Teesside. Waste collected locally will be subjected to extremely high temperatures using gasification and turned into an energy-rich gas which a turbine will transform into electricity for up to 50,000 households. This technology can also produce renewable hydrogen and the facility will be the first to demonstrate Waste2Tricity’s fuel cell technology with scrap carbon derived hydrogen. This facility is one of the largest advanced gasification projects planned for the UK and signifies good progress in delivering an alternative to conventional electricity generation.

We have a looming energy gap with or without a second recession. If there is a role for the waste and fuel cell industries to fill part of that gap for efficient heat, electricity and hydrogen or fuel gases, then we must grasp the nettle and widen the horizon of our technological aspirations and delivery.

There is no doubt that the world of fuel cells is progressing more rapidly now than ever before. The drivers include higher fossil fuel prices, incentives for reducing carbon emissions, and achieving greater efficiency from fuel. All of these things will help the commercialisation of large-scale fuel cell systems for the generation of electrical power from waste, perhaps one day replacing conventional engines altogether – truly quite a revolution.

The question that remains, however, is whether local UK councils will have enough budget to replace incineration with more efficient WtE plants, harnessing technologies like advanced gasification and fuel cells and eliminating the issues of air pollution and waste ash. As this ultimately produces at least twice as much electricity for the National Grid for every tonne of waste processed, fuel cell technologies provide a great opportunity for the waste management industry.

Peter Jones is director of Ecolateral and chairman of Waste2Tricity. email: ecolateraljones@btinternet.com

Characterization of syngas from MSW gasification

Characterization of syngas produced from MSW gasification at commercial-scale ENERGOS Plants Original Research Article
Waste Management, Volume 32, Issue 10
Pages 1835-1842
G. del Alamo, A. Hart, A. Grimshaw, P. Lundstrøm

Highlights

► Gas and tars composition of syngas produced from gasification of municipal solid waste. ► Characterization of the syngas calorific value at commercial-scale Waste to Energy plants. ► Linear variation of the syngas calorific value with gasification lambda value.

Commercial Scale Bio-SPK Site Identified – Solena Fuels Project in Germany

Download PDF : Lufhtansa-Solena Press Rel Germany Sep 2012

Plasma Gasification Raises Hopes of Clean Energy From Garbage

GARBAGE IN, ENERGY OUT A plasma arc gasification system at the Hurlburt Field Air Force base in Florida processes 10 tons of garbage a day, making enough energy to sustain the system.
By RANDY LEONARD
Published: September 11, 2012
David Robau tours the country promoting a system that sounds too good to be true: It devours municipal garbage, recycles metals, blasts toxic contaminants and produces electricity and usable byproducts — all with drastic reductions in emissions.
Mr. Robau, an environmental scientist for the Air Force, has been promoting a method that was developed with the Air Force to dispose of garbage with neither the harmful byproducts of conventional incineration nor the environmental impact of transporting and burying waste. It is one of several innovative techniques that the United States military has been researching to provide alternatives to the open-pit burns that some veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars say have made them ill.
Already some waste companies and cities like New York have shown an interest in technology similar to what Mr. Robau has been promoting, known as plasma arc gasification. Proponents say the process can break chemical bonds and destroy medical waste, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), asbestos and hydrocarbons, some of which can be hazardous if disposed of in landfills or traditional mass-burn incinerators.
Still, some environmentalists are leery. They say the ability to fully dispose of waste will discourage recycling and the development of renewable products, and the gasification will still result in toxic substances like dioxins.
Mr. Robau maintains that the process is earth-friendly. “This is not incineration,” he said. “This is gasification, so it’s a lot cleaner, a lot better for the environment.”
Mr. Robau, who also heads a nonprofit organization based in Gulf Breeze, Fla., has overseen testing of the small-scale plasma arc gasification system, which cracks complex molecules into simple elements using energy as intense as the sun’s surface, making fuel for about 350 kilowatts of electricity from about 10 tons of garbage each day, enough to run the system.
The system has been hard at work in a 6,400-square-foot building at Hurlburt Field Air Force base in Florida’s panhandle. A mechanical shredder cuts household garbage into pieces no bigger than two inches. An airtight auger feeds the waste into an oxygen-poor gasification chamber, where temperatures reach more than 9,000 degrees.
In an instant, wood disintegrates, plastics turn to gas. Bits of metal and glass fall into a molten pool.
From two graphite electrodes, an arc of electricity leaps about a foot to the molten slag, producing a cloud of ionized particles known as plasma, which heats the chamber. Most heavier metals settle to the bottom of the pool, below a layer of liquid silica and other oxides. The metals are removed, cooled and used for steel or other products.
“Effectively, 100 percent of all the metals on the base are being recycled,” Mr. Robau said.
The liquid oxides are removed and form a glassy solid when cooled. The slag traps contaminants like errant lead molecules and other heavy metals in a vitreous matrix that takes up 1 percent of the volume of the original waste, Mr. Robau said, a tenth of the volume left over after traditional incineration.
The vitrified component meets standards for disposal and may even be suitable for use as a construction aggregate, according to Mr. Robau and other industry professionals.
In the chamber, organic gases break down into hydrogen and carbon monoxide — the components of a fuel called synthesis gas, or syngas — which exits the furnace.
The gas passes through a plasma torch polisher, which breaks down remaining complex molecules and soot.
Injected water cools the syngas to less than 200 degrees. The extreme temperature of the plasma followed by quick cooling inhibits the formation of dioxins and furans (another organic compound), according to Mr. Robau and other industry experts.
The lack of dioxin creation would be a benefit over traditional incinerators and other types of gasifiers, in which lower temperatures and incomplete burning result in toxic compounds.
Emissions rules forced a 99 percent cut in dioxin and furan emissions and a 96 percent reduction in mercury from traditional incinerators between 1990 and 2005, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. However, companies have to dispose of the toxic ash filtered from mass-burn facilities.
After water quenches the gas in the Hurlburt system, stripping processes produce sodium bisulfate and hydrochloric acid, which can be sold, Mr. Robau said.
The gas passes through three types of filters to catch remaining impurities. The resulting syngas is as clean or cleaner than natural gas, and the system produces less than half the nitrogen oxides and 5 percent of the sulfur oxides and mercury of a traditional incinerator, Mr. Robau said. The Air Force uses the syngas to produce enough electricity to power the system.
Companies have used plasma arc technology in steel refining for more than a century. Some small-scale plasma gasifiers are specialized to process materials like asbestos or medical waste.
In Japan, a plasma facility originally designed to zap residue from automobile shredding now handles up to 150 tons of municipal solid waste each day in the city of Utashinai. And construction on a plant of similar size, designed to process industrial waste and wood chips, wrapped up this summer in Morcenx, in southern France.
Companies have been eying plasma gasification of municipal waste with eager hopes, but until recently financing has lagged. Plasma facilities are expensive, and the energy-hungry arcs and torches can consume half of the generated electricity. On the other hand, the systems can also handle medical and hazardous waste, which can command two to four times the fees associated with municipal waste.
“The problem has been over the years trying to find that economic sweet spot,” said Joe Vaillancourt, who evaluates newer technologies for Waste Management, a $15.4 billion company with headquarters in Texas.
In the past five years, with increased interest in energy independence and sustainability, venture capitalists and companies have financed testing of small-scale systems, including a 25-ton system built and run by InEnTec in Arlington, Ore., Mr. Vaillancourt said. Waste Management now holds an equity stake in InEnTec.
Last month the Agriculture Department announced a conditional $105 million loan guarantee for Fulcrum BioEnergy to build a much larger system outside Reno, Nev. It will use three InEnTec plasma melters to process 400 tons of garbage a day, an unprecedented scale for a plasma municipal waste facility, said Mr. Vaillancourt and others in the industry. Fulcrum plans to create ethanol from the syngas, and expects the Reno plant to be running in 2014.
New York City, too, is looking for innovative technology to deal with some of the city’s waste. In March, the Bloomberg administration requested proposals to build a facility that would use newer techniques like plasma gasification or anaerobic digestion to process as much as 900 tons of garbage a day.
“New Yorkers want their trash to be handled in an environmentally friendly way,” said Caswell F. Holloway, deputy mayor for operations. “Anything would be better than putting it in the ground.” The city is reviewing the proposals.
Still, some environmental groups, like the Sierra Club and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, lump these techniques in with traditional incinerators, claiming that they still produce dioxin. They also oppose renewable energy credits for these facilities.
Allen Hershkowitz, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said he believed there was a place for waste-to-energy operations, but only after recycling and composting programs had been maximized.
He said he still believed that communities could reach recycling rates of 60 to 70 percent. In his view it is premature for a city like New York, with a recycling rate of about 15 percent, to be considering setting up a new waste facility. “They’re not even at the point where they should be thinking about waste-to-energy,” Mr. Hershkowitz said.

Plasma Gasification Raises Hopes of Clean Energy From Garbage

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/science/plasma-gasification-raises-hopes-of-clean-energy-from-garbage.html?pagewanted=all&_moc.semityn.www&pagewanted=print

By RANDY LEONARD

David Robau tours the country promoting a system that sounds too good to be true: It devours municipal garbage, recycles metals, blasts toxic contaminants and produces electricity and usable byproducts — all with drastic reductions in emissions.

Mr. Robau, an environmental scientist for the Air Force, has been promoting a method that was developed with the Air Force to dispose of garbage with neither the harmful byproducts of conventional incineration nor the environmental impact of transporting and burying waste. It is one of several innovative techniques that the United States military has been researching to provide alternatives to the open-pit burns that some veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars say have made them ill.

Already some waste companies and cities like New York have shown an interest in technology similar to what Mr. Robau has been promoting, known as plasma arc gasification. Proponents say the process can break chemical bonds and destroy medical waste, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), asbestos and hydrocarbons, some of which can be hazardous if disposed of in landfills or traditional mass-burn incinerators.

Still, some environmentalists are leery. They say the ability to fully dispose of waste will discourage recycling and the development of renewable products, and the gasification will still result in toxic substances like dioxins.

Mr. Robau maintains that the process is earth-friendly. “This is not incineration,” he said. “This is gasification, so it’s a lot cleaner, a lot better for the environment.”

Mr. Robau, who also heads a nonprofit organization based in Gulf Breeze, Fla., has overseen testing of the small-scale plasma arc gasification system, which cracks complex molecules into simple elements using energy as intense as the sun’s surface, making fuel for about 350 kilowatts of electricity from about 10 tons of garbage each day, enough to run the system.

The system has been hard at work in a 6,400-square-foot building at Hurlburt Field Air Force base in Florida’s panhandle. A mechanical shredder cuts household garbage into pieces no bigger than two inches. An airtight auger feeds the waste into an oxygen-poor gasification chamber, where temperatures reach more than 9,000 degrees.

In an instant, wood disintegrates, plastics turn to gas. Bits of metal and glass fall into a molten pool.

From two graphite electrodes, an arc of electricity leaps about a foot to the molten slag, producing a cloud of ionized particles known as plasma, which heats the chamber. Most heavier metals settle to the bottom of the pool, below a layer of liquid silica and other oxides. The metals are removed, cooled and used for steel or other products.

“Effectively, 100 percent of all the metals on the base are being recycled,” Mr. Robau said.

The liquid oxides are removed and form a glassy solid when cooled. The slag traps contaminants like errant lead molecules and other heavy metals in a vitreous matrix that takes up 1 percent of the volume of the original waste, Mr. Robau said, a tenth of the volume left over after traditional incineration.

The vitrified component meets standards for disposal and may even be suitable for use as a construction aggregate, according to Mr. Robauand other industry professionals.

In the chamber, organic gases break down into hydrogen and carbon monoxide — the components of a fuel called synthesis gas, or syngas — which exits the furnace.

The gas passes through a plasma torch polisher, which breaks down remaining complex molecules and soot.

Injected water cools the syngas to less than 200 degrees. The extreme temperature of the plasma followed by quick cooling inhibits the formation of dioxins and furans (another organic compound), according to Mr. Robau and other industry experts.

The lack of dioxin creation would be a benefit over traditional incinerators and other types of gasifiers, in which lower temperatures and incomplete burning result in toxic compounds.

Emissions rules forced a 99 percent cut in dioxin and furan emissions and a 96 percent reduction in mercury from traditional incinerators between 1990 and 2005, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. However, companies have to dispose of the toxic ash filtered from mass-burn facilities.

After water quenches the gas in the Hurlburt system, stripping processes produce sodium bisulfate and hydrochloric acid, which can be sold, Mr. Robau said.

The gas passes through three types of filters to catch remaining impurities. The resulting syngas is as clean or cleaner than natural gas, and the system produces less than half the nitrogen oxides and 5 percent of the sulfur oxides and mercury of a traditional incinerator, Mr. Robau said. The Air Force uses the syngas to produce enough electricity to power the system.

Companies have used plasma arc technology in steel refining for more than a century. Some small-scale plasma gasifiers are specialized to process materials like asbestos or medical waste.

In Japan, a plasma facility originally designed to zap residue from automobile shredding now handles up to 150 tons of municipal solid waste each day in the city of Utashinai. And construction on a plant of similar size, designed to process industrial waste and wood chips, wrapped up this summer in Morcenx, in southern France.

Companies have been eying plasma gasification of municipal waste with eager hopes, but until recently financing has lagged. Plasma facilities are expensive, and the energy-hungry arcs and torches can consume half of the generated electricity. On the other hand, the systems can also handle medical and hazardous waste, which can command two to four times the fees associated with municipal waste.

“The problem has been over the years trying to find that economic sweet spot,” said Joe Vaillancourt, who evaluates newer technologies for Waste Management, a $15.4 billion company with headquarters in Texas.

In the past five years, with increased interest in energy independence and sustainability, venture capitalists and companies have financed testing of small-scale systems, including a 25-ton system built and run by InEnTec in Arlington, Ore., Mr. Vaillancourt said. Waste Management now holds an equity stake in InEnTec.

Last month the Agriculture Department announced a conditional $105 million loan guarantee for Fulcrum BioEnergy to build a much larger system outside Reno, Nev. It will use three InEnTec plasma melters to process 400 tons of garbage a day, an unprecedented scale for a plasma municipal waste facility, said Mr. Vaillancourt and others in the industry. Fulcrum plans to create ethanol from the syngas, and expects the Reno plant to be running in 2014.

New York City, too, is looking for innovative technology to deal with some of the city’s waste. In March, the Bloomberg administration requested proposals to build a facility that would use newer techniques like plasma gasification or anaerobic digestion to process as much as 900 tons of garbage a day.

“New Yorkers want their trash to be handled in an environmentally friendly way,” said Caswell F. Holloway, deputy mayor for operations. “Anything would be better than putting it in the ground.” The city is reviewing the proposals.

Still, some environmental groups, like the Sierra Club and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, lump these techniques in with traditional incinerators, claiming that they still produce dioxin. They also oppose renewable energy credits for these facilities.

Allen Hershkowitz, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said he believed there was a place for waste-to-energy operations, but only after recycling and composting programs had been maximized.

He said he still believed that communities could reach recycling rates of 60 to 70 percent. In his view it is premature for a city like New York, with a recycling rate of about 15 percent, to be considering setting up a new waste facility. “They’re not even at the point where they should be thinking about waste-to-energy,” Mr. Hershkowitz said.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: September 12, 2012

An article on Tuesday about the plasma arc gasification method of waste disposal misstated part of the name of the organization with which Allen Hershkowitz, a scientist who said he believed that New York City’s low recycling rate makes its interest in waste-to-energy technology premature, is affiliated. Mr. Hershkowitz is with the Natural Resources Defense Council, not the National Resources Defense Council.