( - promoted by wizardkitten)
Every year, Michigan imports 19-20% of it's total landfill usage, equaling over ten million tons a year. So we bury the trash in a hole and when the hole is full we cover it up. But there's a new technology that can change the way we look at trash, what we do with it and how we can benefit from it.
It's called plasma arc gasification. In an actually not so complicated system the converter turns trash into syngas and inert byproduct. In this system garbage is run into an air tight chamber with plasma torches reaching up to 13,871°C causing pyrolysis. Pyrolysis is when organic material breaks down to it's elements without the use of combustion. The byproducts of this system are syngas, slag, and heat. |
| Looking at the byproducts
Syngas is mostly made up of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This gas is then converted to electricity used to power the plant itself, usually using 1/3-2/3 of the output depending on the size of the plant, and the remaining electricity is sold to third party utility companies. The amount of gas produced by a plant depends on how much organic material is used.
Slag is the solid byproduct from the process. Now before you wrinkle up your nose at it, let's look at what it is. According to Dr. Louis Circeo of Georgia Tech's Plasma Department:
* The weight of the slag is about 20 percent of the weight of the original waste
* The volume of the slag is about 5 percent that of the original waste''s volume
So it's smaller. That's good. But there's more uses for it as well. When the slag is air cooled it turns into obsidian like rocks that can be used in the construction industry for things such as pavement. Also the molten slag can be molded into paving stones, bricks or any manner of things. If compressed air is introduced into the molten slag stream it creates rock wool.
It''s light and wispy, and according to Dr. Circeo, it has the potential to revolutionize the plasma waste treatment industry. Rock wool is a very efficient insulation material, twice as effective as fiberglass. It's also lighter than water, but very absorbent. Because of this, it could potentially be used to help contain and clean oil spills in the ocean. Cleanup crews could spread rock wool over and around an oil spill. The rock wool would float on the water while soaking up the oil, making collection a relatively easy process. Hydroponic growing systems can also use rock wool -- farmers can plant seeds in slabs or blocks of it.
The slag is "unleachable"- any hazardous materials are inert and cannot dissolve from the slag.
And then there's heat. I hope everyone understands heat so I'm not going to explain it.
Coming soon to a landfill near you?
As I was researching this new technology and thinking about it's use in Michigan in dealing with the imported trash issue, I found out I'm not the only one thinking about it. Macomb County is currently looking at entering into agreement with Suncrest Energy LLC, a Washington Township based company for a plasma conversion plant. Democratic County Commissioner Paul Gieleghem says
"It's an incredible benefit for future generations," "Right now municipal solid waste is sitting in a hole and endangering our groundwater."
The plant could be up and running within 2 years. Plasma conversion plants are currently being used in Yoshii, Utashinai, and Mihama-Mikata, Japan, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Farringdon, Oxfordshire, England, St. Lucie County and Tallahassee FL., and Hirwaun, South Wales.
If we can't stop the continuous stream of garbage trucks coming over the bridge from Canada, or from the south from Ohio and Illinois, perhaps it's time to start looking at ways Michigan can literally turn one man's trash into this state's treasure. |
