Taking another step towards using our trash for fuel, Plasco Energy Group is putting up a large-scale plant in Ottowa that will use plasma torches to essentially vaporize trash into usable “syngas.” If it sounds too good to be true, that’s kind of the case because it’s quite expensive to run. But the technology works: the trash goes in and is reduced to simple gases by 2000 degree heat, and this “syngas” is captured and can be burned to produce energy.
Originally the technique burned more energy than it produced, but lower operating temperatures and the scale of the new plant should allow there to be a net gain; 21 megawatts are projected from this plant, which will process 400 metric tons of garbage per day. Sounds good to me.