plasma presentation final
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Garbage In – Garbage InChanging the way we think about trash
Promise C. CeasarNovember 25, 2014
![Page 2: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Why think about trash…
• The average American will throw out roughly 2,700 tons of trash in their lifetime.
• What happens to that trash?
• Most MSW (municipal solid waste) ends up in a landfill or combusted for energy.
• Construction debris is landfilled or recycled.
• In most cities and states, house hold hazardous waste (paint, aerosols, fertilizer, pesticides etc) is collected at HHW events for proper packaging and disposal.
![Page 3: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Average Composition of Trash
City of Chicago, 2009
![Page 4: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/doe/general/RecyclingAndWasteMgmt_PDFs/WasteAndDiversionStudy/ImageThree.jpg
![Page 5: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
What about RCRA regulated waste?
![Page 6: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Before RCRA, hazardous waste was thrown away…
• Either in landfills
• Poured down the drain
• Abandoned somewhere
• Dumped in the oceans, rivers or lakes.
![Page 7: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Lack of regulation lead to..Land and groundwater contaminated with various chemicals that are
extremely hazardous to human and ecological health. These contaminated sites lead to the creation of CERCLA, or Superfund in 1980. There are more
than 1,700 listed Superfund sites in the US.
![Page 8: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Hastings, Nebraska-Groundwater contaminated by landfill.
Photo by Fritz Hoffmann National Geographic “Superfund” by Paul Voosen December 2014
![Page 9: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Monterey Park, California-Superfund Landfill Photo by Fritz Hoffmann National Geographic “Superfund” by Paul Voosen
December 2014
![Page 10: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
How much hazardous waste do we produce?
In 2005 the U.S produced more than 44 million tons of hazardous waste
• 23 million tons were landfilled or recycled
• 3.1 millions tons were disposed of through combustion
• Some wastes that meet the RCRA definitions of solid and hazardous wastes are specifically excluded or exempted from the hazardous waste regulations
• Some oil and gas exploration and mining wastes are excluded
• Household hazardous waste is also exempt.
Sources: www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/tsd/ldr/f99043.pdf
2005 National Biennial RCRA Hazardous Waste Report, December 2006, EPA530-R-06-006.
![Page 11: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Photo by Fritz Hoffmann National Geographic “Superfund” by Paul Voosen December 2014
![Page 12: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Photo by Fritz Hoffmann National Geographic “Superfund” by Paul Voosen December 2014
![Page 13: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Could There Be A Better Way To Get Rid Of Our Trash & Cleanup
Our Superfund Sites?I think there is….
![Page 14: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Plasma Gasification For Municipal Solid & Hazardous Waste Disposal
A New Era of Waste Disposal
![Page 15: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
So…What is Plasma Gasification?
![Page 16: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
I NEED FUEL!!!
Plasma gasification is a process which converts organic matter into synthetic gas, electricity, and slag using plasma.
A plasma torch powered by an electric arc is used to ionize gas and catalyze organic matter into synthetic gas and solid waste (slag).
Back to the Future Universal Pictures (A Robert Zemeckis Film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_gasification
![Page 17: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
More specifically…
• Man made plasma is formed by shooting an electric current across an electrode assembly, thereby ionizing an inert gas—sometimes nitrogen, sometimes just plain air.
• The interaction of the gas with the electric arc dissociates the gas into electrons and ions, and causes its temperature to increase significantly, often exceeding 6,000°C (10,832°F)
• When garbage passes through the stream of plasma its molecular bonds are torn apart, leaving behind syngas consisting mostly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, and a solid slag that resembles obsidian.
Source:http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/plasma-converter.htm
![Page 18: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Drawing of plasma torchSource: Westinghouse Plasma
![Page 19: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Picture of a Plasma Torch Source: Westinghouse Plasma
![Page 20: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Example of a gasification unit
Source: Westinghouse Plasma
![Page 21: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
The Maharashtra Enviro Power Ltd. (“MEPL”) plant processes hazardous wastes from over 30 industries in India. The owner of the plant, SMSIL, is a partner of Westinghouse Plasma Corp. and together the companies offer plasma gasification into the Indian market.
Location: Mepl, Pune, India
Owner: SMSIL
Capacity: 72 tpd
Feedstock: Hazardous Waste
Commissioned: 2009
Output & Configuration: Power – Boiler
Source: http://www.westinghouse-plasma.com/projects/
![Page 22: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
http://www.westinghouse-plasma.com/environmental_performance/
Examples of Slag
![Page 23: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
Constituents of the SlagSource: Westinghouse Plasma Corp.
![Page 24: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
Criticisms of Plasma Gasification of MSW & Hazardous Waste
• “That obsidian-like slag contains toxic heavy metals and breaks down when exposed to water," claims Brad Van Guilder, a scientist at the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which advocates for clean air and water. "Dump it in a landfill, and it could one day contaminate local groundwater.”
• Others wonder about the cleanliness of the syngas. "In the cool-
down phases, the components in the syngas could re-form into toxins," warns Monica Wilson, the international coordinator for the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, in Berkeley, California.
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2007-03/prophet-garbage
![Page 25: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
Pick your Poison…As of now, we don’t have a way of making toxic substances not toxic. This technology, while not perfect, is far better than the traditional alternatives.
![Page 26: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
Sources
![Page 27: Plasma presentation final](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022032620/55c82dd8bb61eb602a8b45fb/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
http://www.no-burn.org/downloads/Burning%20Public%20Money%20GAIA%202011_2.pdf
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/06/confessions-of-a-trash-tourist-india/373118/
http://energy.cleartheair.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ecovalley-hokkaido-plasma-lessons-learned.pd
http://alfaenergysolutions.com/home/the-biproduct/
M. Romero, M.S. Hernández-Crespo, J.Ma. Rincón. Leaching behaviour of a glassy slag and derived glass-ceramics from arc-plasma vitrification of hospital wastesAdvances y Applied Ceramicc, 108 (2009) 1, 67-71; DOI: 10.1179/174367608x366337
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2007-03/prophet-garbage
http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/tsd/ldr/f99043.pdf
http://blog.heritage-enviro.com/blog/how-are-hazardous-waste-landfills-designed-and-managed
http://www.netl.doe.gov/research/coal/energy-systems/gasification/gasifipedia/low-emissions
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/plasma-converter.htm
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/06/confessions-of-a-trash-tourist-india/373118/
http://www.netl.doe.gov/research/Coal/energy-systems/gasification/gasifipedia/westinghouse
http://www.seas.columbia.edu/earth/wtert/sofos/nawtec/nawtec18/nawtec18-3515.pdf
National Geographic December 2014 “Superfund” by Paul Voosen, Photo by Fritz Hoffmann