Garbage Eater: Trash In, Energy Out
The March 1007 issue of Popular Science has an excellent article on a technology called plasma gasification. Systems using plasma gasification can break down any material, except nuclear waste, by using energized plasma to rip apart the molecular bonds of the trash. The only byproduct of the system is an obsidian-like glass and a synthetic gas that can be converted into an energy source such as natural gas or ethanol.
The article features the Plasma Converter system from Startech Environmental Corporation and its inventor, Joseph Longo. His plasma gasification machine not only can devour 2,000 tons of garbage a day (about the amount of trash generated by 800,000 people) but actually generates a third more energy than it uses, powering itself from its own “syngas” byproduct and selling the rest of the energy left over.
I think one of these machines would be a great solution to the LA sludge problem that Bakersfield is always fighting over. Let LA convert their sludge to energy instead. A bunch of these machines could solve every city’s trash problem plus help reduce our reliance on foreign oil.
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