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| Home Front Economy |
| The prophet of garbage (not the pbuh dude) |
| 2007-02-19 |
| The Prophet of Garbage Joseph Longo's Plasma Converter turns our most vile and toxic trash into clean energy—and promises to make a relic of the landfill By Michael Behar | March 2007 (Popular Science) .....The entire thing takes up about as much space as a two-car garage, surprisingly compact for a machine that can consume nearly any type of waste—from dirty diapers to chemical weapons—by annihilating toxic materials in a process as old as non trivial the universe itself. Called plasma gasification, it works a little like the big bang, only backward (you get nothing from something). Inside a sealed vessel made of stainless steel and filled with a stable gas—either pure nitrogen or, as in this case, ordinary air—a 650-volt current passing between two electrodes rips electrons from the air, converting the gas into plasma. Current flows continuously through this newly formed plasma, creating a field of extremely intense energy very much like lightning. The radiant energy of the plasma arc is so powerful, it disintegrates trash into its constituent elements by tearing apart molecular bonds. The system is capable of breaking down pretty much anything except nuclear waste, the isotopes of which are indestructible. The only by-products are an obsidian-like glass used as a raw material for numerous applications, including bathroom tiles and high-strength asphalt, and a synthesis gas, or “syngas”—a mixture of primarily hydrogen and carbon monoxide that can be converted into a variety of marketable fuels, including ethanol, natural gas and hydrogen.... ----------------------- [this company is building its first demo in Connecticut; might be ready for serious10 ton/day testing by summer 2007 - a few non trivial kinks still needed to be worked out as of the time the article was written} |
| Posted by:mhw |
| #7 $3/share |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2007-02-19 23:30 |
| #6 A Different kind of garbage story in today's New Orleans Times-Picayne: TALKING TRASH Garbage removal is elevated to an art form by some of New Orleans' trash collectors The light-blue garbage can was full, but Cornelius Washington twirled it across the pavement like a 70-pound ballerina. From his gloves, the can danced to the back of a garbage truck at the edge of Canal Street, where Washington's younger colleague "T," Torreyon Davis, waited. Davis reached out with one hand, flipped the can into the air upside down and tapped it against the truck, spilling its contents into the truck's big metal jaws. Then he flicked the empty can back to Washington. The performance earned hoots from a group of college kids standing nearby, draped in flashing beads. "Did you see those garbage men?" said one, punching his friend on the arm. Washington raised a gloved hand in acknowledgment, then ran alongside the moving truck and hopped on. Davis, 28, said he is proud to be earning money collecting other people's discards. But he plans to eventually return to school to become a diesel mechanic. Not Washington. "This is my livelihood," he said. "I look at it like it's a gym. I get paid to go to the gym. I'll be 47 next month, and everyone says I'm in great shape. That's because I run behind that truck." You can find the whole story on http://www.nola.com/news - it's pretty good. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-02-19 20:46 |
| #5 tw most important kink is the 'scaling up' problem a lot of stuff that work fine at a small scale don't work right when they are made bigger; some times the scaling up problem is severe, sometimes not |
| Posted by: mhw 2007-02-19 20:16 |
| #4 a few non trivial kinks still needed to be worked out Uh oh. That doesn't sound like the timing will be met. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-02-19 19:33 |
| #3 Sounds cost effective for Conneticutt. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-02-19 19:21 |
| #2 Question, does it work on people and if so, can I rent one? |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2007-02-19 19:06 |
| #1 Sweet! I'm always a sucker for ripping apart molecular bonds. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-02-19 19:02 |