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General Discussion => Science & Nature => Topic started by: sam on November 13, 2008, 10:04

Title: Plasma Plants Will Vaporize Trash While Generating Energy
Post by: sam on November 13, 2008, 10:04

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/11/12/plasma-plants-vaporize-trash-to-generate-energy/

Quote

[Recently St. Lucie County in Florida announced that it has teamed up with Geoplasma to develop the United States’ first plasma gasification plant. The plant will use super-hot 10,000 degree fahrenheit plasma to effectively vaporize 1,500 tons of trash each day, which in turn spins turbines to generate 60MW of electricity - enough to power 50,000 homes! Cutting down on landfill waste while generating energy is a pretty win-win proposition, and the plant will also be able to melt down inorganic materials to be reused for other applications, such as in roadbed and heavy construction./quote]

some interesting pictures on the site...

Title: Re: Plasma Plants Will Vaporize Trash While Generating Energy
Post by: Simon on November 13, 2008, 10:10

Interesting!

Title: Re: Plasma Plants Will Vaporize Trash While Generating Energy
Post by: GillE on November 13, 2008, 10:57

Will the plant generate more power than it consumes?

(I couldn't get the link to load).

Title: Re: Plasma Plants Will Vaporize Trash While Generating Energy
Post by: sam on November 13, 2008, 11:53

Quote from: GillE on November 13, 2008, 10:57

Will the plant generate more power than it consumes?

good point Gill - I'm unsure.. I have a feeling it probably will, or once its going it will be self powering... I think it appears to be more of an exercise of getting rid of waste in a more responsibly matter than just burning it. It sounds like it is better than incinerators but I can't find any useful scientific documents with proper numbers..  here is a couple of other links:

http://g2.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2008/10/05/a16a_swartzcol_1005.html

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/geoplasma-plasma-waste-to-energy-facility-florida.php

Title: Re: Plasma Plants Will Vaporize Trash While Generating Energy
Post by: GillE on November 13, 2008, 11:59

Those links are better :) .

Thanks Sam.