JUL 14

Ottawa, Ontario's city counselors have unanimously approved the building of a waste-to-energy facility that will daily convert 400 metric tons of trash to 21 megawatts of net electricity. The plant will be able to power about 19,000 homes. That's a whole lot of garbage lighting up a whole lot of homes.

The plant, proposed by PlascoEnergy Group, will use gasification (rather than more commonly used incineration) to generate electricity, and they’re hoping they can use a cooler gasification process to lower the cost to a competitive price. The plant will utilize plasma-torch technology to break down trash into syngas – a mix of hydrogen and carbon monoxide – which can be burned in turbines and engines to create electricity. It’s an expensive endeavor, hence the worry about getting the process tweaked to lower costs. They're also relying on the right combination of rising costs for traditional electricity and fees collected from the city. Sounds a little risky, but possibly doable. There's probably a few creative financing angles they could toss around too, in terms of trash collecting and whatnot, should the new gasification process turn out to be not be as money saving as they hope.

The facility will be North America’s first, but similar plants in Europe and Asia can be used as examples. And the new plant likely won’t be lonely for very long. Hawaii also approved $100 M in bonds for a gasification plant using similar technology, and competitor Ze-gen is starting up a pilot plant on a much smaller scale in Massachusetts that will use molten rock to break down garbage. Other waste-to-fuel plants use gasification to make syngas, which is then used to make ethanol. Ottawa’s plant, however, would turn it directly into electricity. The plant could be operating in as soon as three years, which isn’t a whole lot of time to get their process and plant put together. We'll have to wait and see if they can get all their ducks lined up to make the plant feasible.

Via TechnologyReview; Photo via PlascoEnergy Group

Comments (17)

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written by Flahooler, July 14, 2008

It should be noted that PlacoEnergy already has a pilot plant operating in Ottawa with a daily capacity of 100-tons per day, in addition to their research facility in Spain. This plant has been online for several months, providing electricity to the city of Ottawa. The success of the demonstration prompted city officials to approve the full-scale plant. In addition, they have just entered into a joint agreement with the city of Port Moody to evaluate the development of another 400-ton per day facility in that community.

Keep an eye on this company. With the rapidly expanding costs of opening new landfills, this technology will be going places in a hurry.

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written by dialtone, July 14, 2008

once again the Anything Into Oil process I think is better - you get diesel fuel, methane, minerals & water - with the proposedplasma-torch technology you still have a waste product at the end that needs to be disposed of somehow

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Treasurer, wastenotIOWA
written by CharlieK, July 14, 2008

To dialtone:

There is not necessarily waste product at the end that you need to dispose of. In the pure operation, syngas and inert slag that has uses.
CharlieK

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Waste to energy
written by The Food Monster, July 15, 2008

http://thefoodmonsterblog.blogspot.com
You can't create something from nothing, but this gives uses a negative and turns it into a positive. Nothing like the old two birds with one stone. It would be built in more cities, if the price for the electricity were competitive.

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Where does the energy come from to burn
written by interested, July 15, 2008

Maybe i missed something or the article above was not to clear.
But where does the energy come from to burn the waste in the first place?

Somehow i don't think there will be any net increase in energy out of this project and more likely more energy will be used then will be created, and in the end the extra energy cost of running this plant will raise our electricity costs in Ottawa.

This seems like a waste of money to me.
There is lots of land up here and we are in no way running out of space like other bigger cities to the south.

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written by Jared, July 15, 2008

Living in Ottawa I have kept an eye on this tech since they started building the test facility at the city dump.

The energy for the plasma torch actually comes from generators onsite that use the combustible gases created from the plasmafication process to go.

Basically, it powers itself, but there is a lot of power left over, so they pump it into the grid.

The city loves this plan because our primary dump is full, and our primary private dump is turning into an eyesore. This new plant is designed to actually use more waste per day then the city generates and therefore actually empty our dump over time.

Dig into the technology some, it's really interesting and might have some amazing potential to save a lot of cities from opening new dumps.

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written by crapfighter, July 15, 2008

Interested, you should learn more about plasma gasification. It is a net energy creator, requiring only about 20 percent of the energy output to power the facility.

The stuff going into landfills is simply becoming too valuable to dump. It can serve a higher purpose, creating energy, without polluting. What's not to like about that?

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written by a guest, July 15, 2008

There is also a new form of gasification technology being developed in build in ohio currently which creates as a by product carbon nano-tubes on a industrial scale. Will be interesting to see which plant is completed first.

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written by Lin Higley, July 15, 2008

So called garbage is mostly carbon based organics 83% on ave. (burnable) solids simalar to a low grade of coal, the problem is the water. this is a money maker and better than burning the stuff.

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What the article dosn't mention...
written by Rich, July 16, 2008

What the article doesn't mention is that to be economically viable, waste to energy plants need a steady stream of input trash. In essence this ends up promoting consumption and decreasing recycling, as the financial impetus in the contract between the city and the trash incineration company means they have to put in the trash or pay for the system. I'm paraphrasing from what is said here:
http://www.no-burn.org/ , whic...scam...

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Rich said it first
written by denny, July 16, 2008

so all I can do is agree, these plants need a steady stream of garbage over their lifetime to justify the huge investments.

Over the next 20 years, anyone living near one of these plants who espouses waste reduction will be seen as (as the Americans like to say) 'unpatriotic'.

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Plasco all smoke and mirrors
written by Zero Waste Vancouver, July 30, 2008

Lots of ifs in this story, as your author points out between the lines.

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Decreasing Recycling?
written by jmosk, October 07, 2008

Rich says Plasma Gasification will decrease recycling. Personally, I'd say it is the ultimate form of recycling. I see no reason to not consider it a form of recycling. besides, check out this article...
According to the Integrated Waste Services Association, the United States’ national trade association for the WTE industry, “Communities with WTE [waste to energy] facilities are likely to have higher recycling rates than the national average. Far from competing with recycling, WTE is part of an integrated approach to solid waste management that includes recycling as a core component. The average recycling rate for WTE communities across the U.S. is 33%, while the national average is 28%.”
http://www.nacleanenergy.com/features_details.php?feature_id=5&fpage=1

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President owner mad scientist.
written by James Tracy, November 05, 2008

I have a different plasma method. I am interested in a partnership. Call me tomarrow 580-478-8131

http://push.pickensplan.com/profile/JamesTracy

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Interesting Solution
written by Amanda, May 05, 2009

I've recently come across Plasco through a couple of different blogs and have become interested in its technology for waste conversion. I think that Plasco could be a viable solution to our huge waste problem.

I've been searching the Internet for more information and came across this video on the company website that clearly explains the whole process and how communities can benefit:

Here is the link: http://www.plascoenergygroup.c...ated-Video

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written by ed hardy clothes, September 24, 2009

he energy for the plasma torch actually comes from generators onsite that use the combustible gases created from the plasmafication process to go.

Basically, it powers itself, but there is a lot of power left over, so they pump it into the grid.

The city loves this plan because our primary dump is full, and our primary private dump is turning into an eyesore. This new plant is designed to actually use more waste per day then the city generates and therefore actually empty our dump over time.

Dig into the technology some, it's really interesting and might have some amazing potential to save a lot of cities from opening new dumps.

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