Plasma Waste Disposal

Dr. Marian Kowalski, Sebastian Kopinski, Toronto, Ontario

marian.kowalski@sympatico.ca, sebastian_k_@hotmail.com

www.plasmawastedisposal.com

The huge amounts of garbage produced by our modern societies is a massive and pressing social problem that is damaging to our natural environment and harmful to our health.

Four categories of Municipal Waste

Type of waste	Annual amount of trash per person [kg]	Typical waste constituents	Conventional utilization methods
Municipal	550	All sorts of domestic refuse such as paper, plastics, metals, chemical compounds, and organic compounds, etc.	▪ Storage on landfills ▪ Simple incineration and production of by products such as ash, trash remnants, and some energy ▪ Biological dissociation of some organic waste ▪ Waste segregation ▪ Inspissations, granulation
Hazardous	170	Poisonous chemical refuse, radioactive waste, toxic gases, heavy metals, electronic trash, batteries, etc.	▪ Chemical neutralization ▪ Filtering off ▪ Inspissations, submerging, materials into slag, insertion into barrels and storage in water or mine
Medical	0.42	Medical remnants such as tissues, antiseptic gauze, hypodermic syringe, plastics, utensils, etc.	▪ Incineration ▪ Microwave disinfections ▪ Storage ▪ Landfills
Ash	30	Remnants from conventional incineration.	Storage on landfills

The huge quantities of waste generated every day, coupled with the lack of safe and affordable storage and processing, threatens our health, costs taxpayers’ money and destroys the delicate natural balance.

The Problem

All this waste penetrates the ecosystem, contaminating our soil and ground water. Moreover, conventional waste disposal methods do not address contamination, because the harmful residues left behind, such as ash, dust, and gases, cannot be filtered off. The proper disposal of household waste is a problem waiting for the right solution.

And it is a pressing problem. The topic of how to properly dispose of our waste is an all too common one in Ontario’s media, with city and town councils across the province discussing the issue at length.

Moreover, there are protests and concerns from communities who live near landfills and incineration sites about their quality of life and the long-term effects of being near this waste on their health.

And there is little time to find a solution. Toronto’s contracts to ship garbage to Michigan expire in 2010. Even after we divert, compost, recycle, reuse and implement all the current waste diversion methods, Toronto will be stuck with 30–40 per cent its waste each year, which includes 15 million chip bags, 10 million light bulbs, 5 million toothbrushes and 100 000 mattresses. (Toronto Star, Royson Jame). What do we do then?

The Solution

We believe we have the solution - plasma.

Plasma technology has been around for more than a half of century. Developed originally to be used in metallurgy for the production of high-grade steel, it is widely used today to handle municipal waste.

For instance, in Japan two plasma waste converters are working already and transform 200 tons per day into gas and slag. Plasma technology is also currently being developed in Italy, Spain and other European countries.

However, in Canada, this formidable technology has been met with little enthusiasm. The aim of this article is to educate citizens and governments on the benefits of plasma technology to address the immediate problem of clean and safe waste disposal here in Ontario.

What is plasma technology?

Very hot plasma is essentially ionized gas, such as oxygen, under normal pressure created by an electrical arc. The power of plasma is the very high temperature it can reach, ranging from 2 to 6 thousand degrees Celsius. At these extremely high temperatures, all waste constituents, including metals, toxic materials, silicon, etc. are completely melted, forming a non–toxic dross.

Plastic, biological and chemical compounds, as well as toxic gases, decompose into simpler gases, such as Hydrogen and Carbon Dioxide. In the case of Hydrogen, it can be used as a clean burning fuel reducing significantly the costs of plasma formation and waste utilization. Moreover, regained metals from this process can be safely returned to metallurgic industry, and the slag can be used as an additive to road and construction materials.

Treating municipal waste with plasma does not produce foul odours or a harmful ash, something all to common in the traditional incinerating plant.

Fig.1. Plasma dissociation of toxic organic gases in temperatures ranging
3000 to 6000 degrees Celsius. Required minimal dissociation temperature of
organic molecules is in the range of 1500 degrees Celsius, which is close to
melting temperature of metals.

Fig.2. Plasma utilization of toxic municipal waste and specification and usefulness of output
products.

What are the main advantages of plasma technology?

Because plasma’s high temperatures are capable of disassociating molecular bonds, plasma efficiently takes care of all types of waste.
The plasma is generated in a closed system, without releasing ashes, waste remnants, dusts and toxic gases into the environment. Reclaimed metals return to industry and slag is used as an additive to road construction materials. Non-toxic gases, which are created, are stored in special containers (gas cylinders) and used as fuel.
The volumetric waste reduction with plasma for most solid wastes is approximately 300 to 1. Conventional incineration ratio is in the range of 5 to 1 since large quantities of ash are produced.
Plasma technology allows converting large quantities of municipal waste in the range of 10 to 500 tons a day.
This method of waste reduction is the only method available to reduce electronic equipment waste, which does not undergo biodegradation.
Thanks to the creation of hydrogen fuel, the costs of using plasma technology could be reduced from $40/ton to ZERO. The costs of using conventional incineration are in the range of $100/ton.
Contaminates in slag and gases created with plasma disposal, such as mercury, cadmium, sulphur, SO₂, HCL, dioxins, selenium, chromium, lead, barium, arsenic, radioactive elements are strictly controlled by usage of special water and/or dry scrubbers and filters. This method minimizes these harmful contaminates to below current environmental standards. The remaining pollutants sink into a glassy slag and can be further treated in the closed plasma system, another major difference to conventional incineration.
Plasma technology can be used to further burn down the ashes formed as a result of conventional incineration to make them harmless.
Contemporary plasma converters are computer controlled, safe, quiet and can be stationary or mobile.
Plasma waste utilization will improve public health and safely to achieve a “total and irreversible destruction of hazardous and toxic compounds”, “lethal viruses, bacteria and prions that are so dangerous to our health” (Startech Environmental Corp.).

We must act now

We hope that this brief article has helped to inform people about the benefits of plasma technology in waste disposal. We also hope it will encourage investors to invest in this emerging and beneficial technology, as well as persuade local governments to try this technology.

Let’s be clear. Plasma incineration is a clean, safe, affordable, and highly effective method of waste disposal. Making it the standard method of waste disposal will solve one of our society’s most pressing and dire problems, making Ontario a better place to live, work, and raise a family.