Waste-to-Energy: Plasma Gasification

What if I told you that there is technology that could take a standard disposable diaper that would normally decompose in 500 years and demolish it in 5 seconds?  Well the technology is here and being used today.  It’s a process called “plasma gasification.” 

Most people know the three main states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas.  Add heat to a solid and you get a liquid.  Add heat to a liquid and you get a gas.  Add heat to a gas and you get plasma.  Some good examples of plasma are lightning and the sun.  Scientists create an electrical arc with electrodes creating a plasma torch.  With the plasma gasification, the temperatures can reach up to 10,000° Celsius.  To put that in perspective, the outer layer of the sun is about 6,000° Celsius.  This heat torch will obliterate garbage.  The byproduct of which is gas and minimal solid slag.  The glass-like slag can be used in roads, jewelry, and other applications.  The gas and steam can be converted into energy.

While these are waste management plants, their goal is to be a power plant and not necessarily just a garbage facility.  Once the plant is up and running, it is self-sufficient – easily generating enough energy to sustain itself.  PLASCO in Ottawa, Canada recently began delivering energy back to the grid.  They process around 100 metric tonnes of garbage each day.  There is a plant underway in Florida where they not only want to keep garbage out of the landfill, they want to empty the existing landfill there within 18 years – that’s a lofty goal.

Eco-Tech from The Science Channel on Plasma Gasification

Source: Wikipedia, Eco-Tech