The firm behind plans to build a waste-to-energy plant on Perth’s Shore Road has outlined its intentions to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Perth and Kinross Council.
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Grundon Waste Management has returned to the table with Advanced Plasma Power Ltd (APP) with plans for a gasification plant — a scheme that has attracted thousands of objections.
Grundon claims its new plan addresses the reasons for its previous failure and new technology to turn waste into sustainable power and creates useable by-products.
Rather than incineration, ultraviolet light is used to convert waste to a fuel gas.
Martin Brooks, engineering director for APP, said, “The input to the plant would be a pre-treated, refuse-derived fuel produced off site, dried into a ‘floc’ material. This is gasified in a fluidised bed gasifier, producing solid chars and ash, as well as a syngas, which at this stage still contains tars and soot.
“We then use a plasma arc converter — used in other industries, for example to separate platinum from old catalytic converters as well as in steel production — to crack the impurities in the syngas and clean it up.
“At the same time the ash and the inorganic elements are vitrified —turned into a glass-like product known as Plasmarok. This is used, for instance, as a secondary aggregate to replace the extraction of primary materials being quarried for construction jobs.
“Finally, the clean gas powers gas engines which generate secure, clean heat and power.”
Grundon’s Bob Nicholson said the change in technology (from the originally intended incinerator) means instead of one large building, the process would be accommodated in a series of smaller buildings with a 34-metre chimney.
He said, “The new scale, design, appearance and layout mean the proposed development would be a similar size to other buildings in the local area.”
He added, “We have also redesigned the layout so the significant noise generating plant would be in a fully enclosed building at the north of the site, furthest away from the prison.”
Despite assurances the scheme has been branded by protesters as too dangerous for a town centre site and has attracted thousands of objections.
Photo by Flickr user eastleighbusman.