February 7, 2008

Plasco Energy Group begins accepting Ottawa garbage at plasma gasification plant

KORKY KOROLUK

Correspondent

At least a few Ottawa homes now are being powered, in part, by electricity from an waste-to-energy plant at a west-end landfill site.

Plasco Energy Group Inc. announced recently that it has begun accepting city garbage at its plasma gasification plant, breaking it down and converting it to a clean synthetic gas, or “syngas” used to generate electricity.

It’s a demonstration project that is capable of processing 100 tonnes of garbage a day, but is currently licensed to process 85 tonnes.

“This is one of the last steps in what has been a very meticulous process to bring this first Plasco conversion system into operation,” said a statement from Rod Bryden, Plasco’s CEO.

While it represents “an important achievement” a few weeks of intermittent operation lie ahead as the system is fine-tuned before beginning to produce electricity around the clock.

Plasco’s process is a sealed system that operates at extremely high temperature.

The company describes the process as “a non-incineration thermal process that uses the intense and controllable heat from plasma arc generators in an oxygen-starved environment to decompose” the material being treated into simple molecules.

The syngas produced powers engines that drive turbines generating electricity. It is at that stage that the first emissions to the atmosphere occur.

The byproduct of the process is a glass-like slag that can be ground and used in some concrete mixes, or can be crushed and used as roadbuilding aggregate.

In his statement, Bryden said interest in the system is high “in many communities around the world, and we are very optimistic that Plasco Energy will become a new and meaningful choice in the management of waste and delivery of distributed clean and green power in urban communities.”

Earlier, he had been quoted as saying the company is close to deals with Red Deer and surrounding Alberta municipalities, as well as an unnamed municipality in Ontario.

Ottawa produces about 200,000 tonnes of solid waste annually after recyclables are taken out, and Plasco says that its gasification process could handle most of it while generating enough clean electricity to power about 25,000 homes.

The city is paying Plasco $40 a tonne to accept waste, the same as it pays for landfilling it.

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