According to The New York Times, new energy plants across Denmark and other European countries are converting trash into heat and electricity. Dozen of filters catch pollutants, from mercury to dioxin, that would have emerged from its smokestack only a decade ago. such plants have become both the mainstay of garbage disposal and a crucial fuel source across Denmark. Their use has not only reduced the country’s energy costs and reliance on oil and gas, but also benefited the environment, diminishing the use of landfills and cutting carbon dioxide emissions. Denmark now regards garbage as a clean alternative fuel rather than a smelly, unsightly problem.
The author writes, by contrast, no new waste-to-energy plants are being planned or built in the United States, the Environmental protection Agency says- even though the federal government and 24 states now classify waste that is burned this way for energy as a renewable fuel, in many cases eligible for subsidies. There are only 87 trash-burning power plants in the United States, a country of more than 300 million people, and almost all were built at least 15 years ago.
“Europe has gotten out ahead with this newest technology,” said Ian A. Bowles, a former clinton administration official.
Kevin Hand writes, How does it works: Startech's trash converter uses superheated plasma-an electrically conductive mass of charged particles (ions and electrons) generated from ordinary air-to reduce garbage to its molecular components. First the trash is fed into an auger that shreds it into small pieces. Then the mulch is delivered into the plasma chamber, where the superheated plasma converts it into two by-products. One is syngas composed mostly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which is fed into the adjacent Starcell system to be converted into fuel. The other is molten glass that can be sold for use in household tiles or road asphalt.
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Kevin Hand writes, How does it works: Startech's trash converter uses superheated plasma-an electrically conductive mass of charged particles (ions and electrons) generated from ordinary air-to reduce garbage to its molecular components. First the trash is fed into an auger that shreds it into small pieces. Then the mulch is delivered into the plasma chamber, where the superheated plasma converts it into two by-products. One is syngas composed mostly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which is fed into the adjacent Starcell system to be converted into fuel. The other is molten glass that can be sold for use in household tiles or road asphalt.
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