Waste-to-Energy Pilot could Processes 1,000 Tons of Landfill Trash
- Feb 20, 2008 12:46 PM EST
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Can solid waste such as trash, animal and agricultural byproducts and industrial debris save our planet? Sure it can. In fact, it can give us ethanol, clean diesel, and even Fischer Tropsch jet fuel.
The trick is in a thermochemical process that converts carbon-containing raw waste into syngas - a combination of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen.
Knowing what's at stake, Southern Research Institute's Carbon-to-Liquids (C2L) Development Center took the scheme to the next level by announcing plans for its first advanced energy conversion technology system. The pilot will process approximately five tons of municipal solid waste daily with the possibility of scaling the output to 100-1,000 tons per day.
"We won't know that quantity until after the system is commissioned and tested but it appears scalable and we believe it has unique advantages that may make it more environmentally-friendly and commercially-viable than standard waste-to-energy processes," said Stephen Piccot, director of the Carbon to Liquids Development Center at the North Carolina's Southern Research Institute.