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As part of Faringdon ECOWEEK, a visit has been arranged on Tuesday 17th June to the state-of-the-art Tetronics Advanced Plasma Power Plant in Swindon.
The Gasplasma Process is an advanced conversion technology developed to treat household, commercial and other mixed solid wastes.
- It converts the organic matter to a gas that is useable for renewable energy generation.
- It converts the inorganic matter to an inert vitrified residue useable as an aggregate.
- It is a ‘closed process’ that produces no environmentally polluting gases.
- It leaves almost nothing (around 1 per cent of input volumes) to go to landfill.
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The Gasplasma Process is an Advanced Conversion Technology to convert a pre-treated waste feedstock into two recyclable products: a hydrogen rich synthetic or Syn gas and a vitrified material suitable for use as a replacement aggregate or building material.
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We will be visiting Advanced Plasma Power (APP) in South Marston, Swindon (originally located in Faringdon) to see both the full-size concept, in the visitor centre, and the actual pilot plant for recovering energy from domestic refuse. APP’s feedstock is refuse-derived-fuel (RDF), a sorted, shredded and dried material obtained from the organic fraction of black-bag waste. The RDF is gasified in a novel, two stage process and the filtered and scrubbed synthesis gas (syngas) is fed into an internal combustion engine/generator set to produce electricity; the heat generated can also be used as part of a combined heat and power system. The full-size plant will take in 100,000 t per annum of black bag waste, sort out the inorganic fraction (bottles, cans, metals, etc.) for recycling, leaving 60,000 t.p.a. of organics for processing into RDF. Not only will this plant generate 9 MW of electrical power (of which about half can be exported) it will do so from waste that would otherwise be landfilled. In addition, the ash content of the RDF (~7%) is converted into an inert mineral that can be used in construction. If time permits we can also visit the PRL facility to see a fully operational process for the recovery of metals from automotive catalysts.
There will be a maximum of 16 people allowed on this visit; signing up is essential. Please email sjoerd@ecoweek.info or phone 01367-241707 to book. There will be a charge of £2 per person payable on the day to cover transport. We will need to wear hard hats and high visibility vests, and it is also advisable that ‘sensible’ shoes be worn (i.e. no open-toed sandals). All visitors will also have to sign in for Health & Safety/Fire Regulations.
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