Fracking why the oil and gas got an exemption to clean water act presentation...
Plasma presentation final
1. Garbage In – Garbage In
Changing the way we think about trash
Promise C. Ceasar
November 25, 2014
2. Why think about trash…
• The average American will throw out roughly 2,700 tons of trash in their
lifetime.
• What happens to that trash?
• Most MSW (municipal solid waste) ends up in a landfill or combusted for
energy.
• Construction debris is landfilled or recycled.
• In most cities and states, house hold hazardous waste (paint, aerosols,
fertilizer, pesticides etc) is collected at HHW events for proper packaging
and disposal.
6. Before RCRA, hazardous
waste was thrown away…
• Either in landfills
• Poured down the drain
• Abandoned somewhere
• Dumped in the oceans, rivers or lakes.
7. Lack of regulation lead to..
Land and groundwater contaminated with various chemicals that are
extremely hazardous to human and ecological health. These contaminated
sites lead to the creation of CERCLA, or Superfund in 1980. There are more
than 1,700 listed Superfund sites in the US.
10. How much hazardous waste do we
produce?
In 2005 the U.S produced more than 44 million tons of hazardous waste
• 23 million tons were landfilled or recycled
• 3.1 millions tons were disposed of through combustion
• Some wastes that meet the RCRA definitions of solid and hazardous wastes
are specifically excluded or exempted from the hazardous waste regulations
• Some oil and gas exploration and mining wastes are excluded
• Household hazardous waste is also exempt.
Sources: www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/tsd/ldr/f99043.pdf
2005 National Biennial RCRA Hazardous Waste Report, December 2006, EPA530-R-06-006.
11. Photo by Fritz Hoffmann National Geographic “Superfund” by Paul Voosen December 2014
12. Photo by Fritz Hoffmann National Geographic “Superfund” by Paul Voosen December 2014
13. Could There Be A Better Way To
Get Rid Of Our Trash & Cleanup
Our Superfund Sites?
I think there is….
14. Plasma Gasification For Municipal
Solid & Hazardous Waste Disposal
A New Era of Waste Disposal
16. I NEED FUEL!!!
Plasma gasification is a process
which converts organic matter
into synthetic gas, electricity, and
slag using plasma.
A plasma torch powered by an
electric arc is used to ionize gas
and catalyze organic matter into
synthetic gas and solid waste (slag).
Back to the Future Universal Pictures (A Robert Zemeckis Film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_gasification
17. More specifically…
• Man made plasma is formed by shooting an electric current across an
electrode assembly, thereby ionizing an inert gas—sometimes nitrogen,
sometimes just plain air.
• The interaction of the gas with the electric arc dissociates the gas into
electrons and ions, and causes its temperature to increase significantly,
often exceeding 6,000°C (10,832°F)
• When garbage passes through the stream of plasma its molecular bonds
are torn apart, leaving behind syngas consisting mostly of hydrogen and
carbon monoxide, and a solid slag that resembles obsidian.
Source:http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/plasma-converter.htm
21. The Maharashtra Enviro Power Ltd.
(“MEPL”) plant processes
hazardous wastes from over 30
industries in India. The owner of the
plant, SMSIL, is a partner of
Westinghouse Plasma Corp. and
together the companies offer
plasma gasification into the
Indian market.
Location: Mepl, Pune, India
Owner: SMSIL
Capacity: 72 tpd
Feedstock: Hazardous Waste
Commissioned: 2009
Output & Configuration: Power – Boiler
Source: http://www.westinghouse-plasma.com/projects/
24. Criticisms of Plasma Gasification
of MSW & Hazardous Waste
• “That obsidian-like slag contains toxic heavy metals and breaks
down when exposed to water," claims Brad Van Guilder, a
scientist at the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which
advocates for clean air and water. "Dump it in a landfill, and it
could one day contaminate local groundwater.”
• Others wonder about the cleanliness of the syngas. "In the cool-
down phases, the components in the syngas could re-form into
toxins," warns Monica Wilson, the international coordinator for
the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, in Berkeley,
California.
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2007-03/prophet-garbage
25. Pick your Poison…
As of now, we don’t have a way of making toxic substances not toxic. This
technology, while not perfect, is far better than the traditional alternatives.
