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NEWS Plasma gasification converts waste to energy in Minnesota
PHOTO: PyroGenesis © 2006
The Minnesota state institute in order to test the plaslegislature recently awarded ma gasification process. The $400,000 to Koochiching process has been successfully County in the north-central used to eliminate MSW in two part of the state to fund a facilities in Japan. Similarly, the feasibility study for a first phase of a facility in St. potential facility that would Lucie, Fla.—expected to come convert municipal solid on line in 2009—will process up waste (MSW) into energy. to 3,000 tons of waste per day. The plant, which Currently, the Koochiching would be located near County Board is drafting a International Falls, would request for proposal, which will use plasma torches to gasibe used to find an engineering fy MSW. These torches Plasma torches, which can generate temperatures hotter than the firm to conduct the feasibility house electrodes, and when surface of the sun, can also transform organic materials into syngas. study in Minnesota. Paul a continuous flow of elecNevanen, director of the tricity is applied, an arc Koochiching County Economic organic materials into syngas that can be forms between them. The air in the torch Development Authority, expects the study pushes this extremely hot artificial bolt of used to make electricity and liquid fuels. to be completed by November. “This is “Plasma gasification could revolution- pretty visionary for a small county like lightning into a furnace, where the MSW enters. The torrid temperatures generated ize the whole field of waste management,” ours,” he said. by this process, which can be hotter than said Lou Circeo, director of plasma research -Jessica Ebert the surface of the sun, rip apart compounds at Georgia Tech Research Institute. He is and convert inorganic solids into a glassy considered a pioneer in plasma gasification, obsidian-like rock that can be used in road and part of the Minnesota feasibility study construction. The process also transforms will involve sending waste samples to the
Chevron company to power wastewater sludge facility Chevron Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of Chevron USA Inc., has teamed with Danbury, Conn.-based FuelCell Energy Inc. to build a facility that will convert wastewater sludge and kitchen grease into renewable energy to power an adjacent wastewater treatment plant owned by the city of Rialto, Calif. The estimated $15.1 million project calls for FuelCell Energy to provide three 300-kilowatt fuel cell units for Chevron’s facility, which will generate electricity from methane without combustion and convert it into hydrogen. The hydrogen will then be cogenerated into electricity and steam to power and heat the aging wastewater treatment facility. According to Chevron Energy Solutions President Jim Davis, construction of the facility began May 8, and start-up operations are expected to begin sometime in early 2008. Davis said the facility will reduce landfill waste and decrease annual energy costs by $800,000, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.5 million tons per year. FuelCell Energy sold its fuel cell technology to the city of Rialto through Chevron Energy Solutions, which will main-
tain and operate the plant after it is complete. This is Chevron Energy Solutions’ second project of this nature, with the first completed in Millbre, Calif., last year. “This is basically one of those great examples of applying innovation to proven energy technologies in a unique way to benefit the community of Rialto,” Davis said. “By looking at wastewater treatment operations holistically, we’re helping Rialto and other cities transform an urban waste into an asset.” Once the project is complete, a fats, oils and greases (FOG) receiving station will provide an effective disposal alternative, reducing the amount of FOG sent to landfills. Meanwhile, the fuel cell plant and other energy-efficient improvements will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 11 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually, equivalent to removing 1,080 cars from the road each year. -Bryan Sims
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