Morning All!
I read Niki's post about NYC's recycling plan with interest, because trash and our methods of dealing with it have been in the forefront of my mind ever since I saw an amazing piece on Korean television about a Canadian company called Plasco Energy.
Plasco just may have got this whole "trash" thing figured out.
Using a technique called Plasma Gasification, they've devised a way to reduce landfill content by 99.9 percent. You heard that right: Ninety-nine point nine percent.
Here's how their system works:
Municipal solid waste arrives at the Plasco facility where it is shredded.
Recyclables are sifted and sorted out.
What's left is run through past electric plasma torches in high heat, but almost zero oxygen. This results in decomposition, not combustion. So no smoke is produced, just usable gases. These gases are refined into fuel gas and used to power Plasco's operation. Meaning, once the system is started, it is self-sustaining, needing only more trash to keep running.
Furthermore, the gases produced are also used to run a series of generators which create electric power. This power is then sold to the grid.
All material left over is then run past the plasma torches a second time, turning decomposed ash into a crystalline, glass-like material which is non-toxic, non-leaching, and can be used as roadbed aggregate, in construction materials, even polished and set to create jewelry. It looks a bit like obsidian, and personally, I think it would make some very cool black brick.
Any water that comes out of the process is perfectly clean and can be used for irrigation purposes.
So, just to recap:
Trash in.
Recyclables, power, fuel, salt, sulfur, clean water, and black glass-like material out.
What's left? .1 percent heavy metals from improperly disposed trash; things like batteries and paints.
And it gets better. Plasco's operation, besides being self-sustaining and extremely productive, is very quiet, modular so it can be scaled to whatever size you need, and doesn't stink up the neighborhood.
New York currently has to pay $90 per ton of trash in hauling and disposal fees.
With a Plasco system in place, NY could be making $15 a ton.
Think what this technology means to the future of NYC.
Instead of looking at trash as a problem, we realize that it is a huge asset.
Fresh Kills Landfill becomes Fresh Kills Mine. Plasma gasification quietly and efficiently turns countless tons of our trash into wonderful usable products like gas and electricity while making our city money!
How nice is that? A landfill is just a mine in reverse!
And you don't even have to sort your trash anymore.
(Personally, I've never understood why the onus of dealing with municipal waste fell on the private citizen. Isn't the whole point of a state and federal government to deal with that issue, among others? Isn't the point of those institutions existing to let us live our lives happily, cleanly, and productively? Shouldn't we be free of the worry that our trash is going to harm our environment?)
Really, what are you and I supposed to do with an aluminum can? A dirty diaper? Our take-out containers?
Plasma gasification, that's what.
Waste = Food!
Waste = Energy!
Waste = $$$!
What do you think? Should we start a "polite declaration of intention" and ask Mayor Bloomberg to invite Plasco to set up shop in NYC?
It would eliminate 99.9 percent of my concerns about the future of NYC's trash.
Love to all,
-Jackson
Here's Plasco's website: Plasco Energy
And here's Plasco's wiki
I agree Plasma Gasification Technology is a great solution for harnessing power from Trash. There are bunch of companies within this area. One of the bye product of this process is water which is contaminated. But there is another US company Adaptive Arc their process produces no water. NYC should be pushing for such plants its a no brainer unless we are missing something here.
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