We can use scalable waste gasification to get rid of waste and generate electric power without building and maintaining centralized facilities that suck up enormous amounts of money and take years to plan, permit, and construct. Just hauling waste consumes energy and increases pollution.
So far, recycling bottles, cans, car parts, and so on in those facilities pays off because it costs less than extracting raw materials from the earth to make glass and metal.
We’re not so lucky with plastic. Recycling plastic junk costs more than getting the raw materials for plastic. The extra cost is for energy to transport, sort, clean, and recycle plastic junk.
But if we had SWG units that turned waste into power in our homes and businesses, there’d be no pollution from hauling waste. Instead of consuming power, we’d produce it.
We can recycle waste at a molecular level and use the output to generate electric power.
Imagine a device the size of dishwasher installed in say, a family residence. The main components of the unit are:
- gas tight waste containment chamber
- solid state microwave heating unit
- pump for evacuating air and hydrogen
- hydrogen storage tank
- Stirling heat engine
- electric generator
- storage battery
Waste is placed in the chamber. The chamber is sealed and most of the air is evacuated. The microwave generator heats the waste until it is broken down into hydrogen molecules. The hydrogen gas is pumped into the holding tank. The Stirling engine consumes the hydrogen and drives the generator that produces electric power.
The amount of power produced by a SWG unit is estimated to be between 5 and 15 times the amount of power it uses to process the waste. To show why this is possible, below are energy calculations for a sample of 300 grams of plastic:
• E_in is the input energy in joules, i.e. the energy consumed to heat the plastic.
• E_out is the output energy in joules, i.e. the energy produced by burning the hydrogen to drive a Stirling heat engine that drives an electric generator.
• For reference:
1 watt = 1 joule/second; 1 MJ = 1 megajoule = 1,000,000 joules
By weight, 8% to 14% of plastic is hydrogen. We’ll use 11%.
The energy density of hydrogen is between 120 and 142 MJ/kg.
We’ll use 131 MJ/kg, i.e. 131,000 joules/gram, as the energy density of hydrogen.
The efficiency of a Stirling heat engine is about 40%. The efficiency of an electric generator is between 85% to 99%. We’ll use 92%.
In a recent test at the University of Oxford, upon exposure to microwaves for 90 seconds, hydrogen was rapidly evolved. Solid fragments of carbon and other substances were formed. Within the first 30 seconds, the evolved hydrogen rapidly increased to about 80% by volume of the evolved gases. Almost all of the high density polyethylene (HDPE) decomposed or deconstructed in 20 seconds. During that 20 seconds, almost 97% of the hydrogen is extracted from the plastic waste.
• Using the results from the test, we can calculate the input energy. The information about the test did not specify the power rating of the microwave oven, but let's call it 1000 joules/second.
E_in = 1000 joules/second X 90 seconds = 90,000 joules
• Starting with the energy density of hydrogen, we can calculate the output energy for 300 grams of plastic.
The amount of hydrogen in 300 grams of plastic = 0.11 X 300 = 33 grams
The amount of hydrogen that can extracted = 0.97 X 33 grams v= 32.01 grams
The heat energy released by burning 32.01 grams of hydrogen =
32.01 grams X 131,000 joules/gram = 4,193,310 joules
The mechanical energy generated by the Stirling heat engine =
0.40 X 4,193,310 joules = 1,677,324 joules
The electrical energy generated from the mechanical energy =
0.92 X 1,677,324 joules = 1,543,138.08 joules
• Hence, E_out = 1,543,138.08 joules
and E_out/E_in = 1,543,138 joules / 90,000 joules = 17.15
Thus, it’s theoretically possible that the ratio of the input energy to the output energy could be over 15X. Even if in practice the ratio is less, it’s likely that processing a quantity of plastic waste in a SWG unit will generate more energy than the process itself.
Stop thinking big and centralized. Start thinking small and distributed. Imagine the benefits of SWG units in homes, apartment buildings, and small businesses.
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Pyrolize
www.pyrolyze.com/
Pyrocore
pyrocore.com
Plasma Kinetics
plasmakinetics.com/ plasmakinetics.com/
Waste Management World
waste-management-world.com
Yale Scientific
www.yalescientific.org/2013/04...
Science.gov
www.science.gov/topicpages/p/p...
Eco Waste Solutions
ecosolutions.com/waste-to-energy
Waste Today Magazine
www.wastetodaymagazine.com
13 июл 2024
