Sweet Ass Plasma Converter

All the news that's new and approved. We want your opinion, no matter how wrong it is.

Moderator: EG Members

Post Reply
User avatar
psi29a
Godo
Posts: 5386
Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2005 2:52 am
Location: The Lonely Mountain
Contact:

Sweet Ass Plasma Converter

Post by psi29a »

http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2007/02/18/ ... converter/
74 year old Joseph Longo, founder and CEO of Startech Environmental Corporation, is fast becoming known as “The Prophet of Garbage” because he has developed a Plasma Converter that can turn the world’s most dangerous and toxic waste into clean usable energy.

This promising new technology straight out of Star Trek holds out the promise of making landfills and other troublesome toxic storage sites a thing of the past and with further research and development become a viable alternative energy source for homes, transportation and space travel.

Startech’s trash converter uses superheated plasma to reduce garbage to its molecuar components. Longo’s multimillion dollar technological marvel dubbed the “Plasma Converter” has taken almost 20 years to design and build and can fit easily within a space the size of a two-car garage. Yet, it has the capability to consume almost any kind of waste or toxic product through a process called plasma gasification.

This annilhilation process is described like something similar to the the big bang, only in reverse in that you get nothing from something, instead of something out of nothing. Inside a sealed vessel made of stainless steel and filled with a stable gas—either pure nitrogen or, as in this case, ordinary air—a 650-volt current passing between two electrodes rips electrons from the air, converting the gas into plasma. Current flows continuously through this newly formed plasma, , creating a field of extremely intense energy very much like lightning. The radiant energy of the plasma arc is so powerful, it disintegrates trash into its constituent elements by tearing apart molecular bonds.

The by-products are an obsidian-like glass used as a raw material for numerous applications, including bathroom tiles and high-strength asphalt, and a synthesis gas, or “syngas”—a mixture of primarily hydrogen and carbon monoxide that can be converted into a variety of marketable fuels, including ethanol, natural gas and hydrogen. The only type of waste that it cannot break down is nuclear waste since the radiation is already in its natural atomic state.

To learn more about this new technology go to Popular Science Magazine online POPSCI.com and read Michael Behar’s fascinating article on the subject. The potential for this is staggering in its scope.
OMG I want that now... :D
User avatar
Brainpiercing
Crusher of Dreams
Posts: 1717
Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2005 9:29 pm
Location: somewhere far beyond

Post by Brainpiercing »

This won't help with some things, even other than radioactive waste. Anything dangerous in its elemental form, like heavy metals, will still be in the waste. The fact that the waste LOOKS inert and safe doesn't mean it IS safe. It might be soluble, and it's still waste. Until you can separate the waste by selective condensation or something, you won't have won that much.

That would be something for the future. Destilling the waste back into the elements.
Brainpiercing
"Beer cures poison" - (almost) Guts.
Image
arke
Beware my tactical spam
Posts: 482
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:53 am
Location: ::1

Post by arke »

Except it works just fine on 99% of all waste? Building materials? No problem. Standard household garbage? No problem. Just because it can't handle everything doesn't make it any less of great invention. It'll help tremendously for the majority of waste nonetheless.
User avatar
MrFelony
E-Thug
Posts: 3284
Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2005 7:07 am
Location: In the middle of somwhere

Post by MrFelony »

I thought the idea of cities eventually selling garbage and making a profit pretty amusing. imagine how much money that could free up for other programs like education :?
Image
User avatar
Shisho
Augh! Bright sky fire burn eyes!
Posts: 312
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2005 3:46 am

Post by Shisho »

Yeah cause the vast majority of waste is radioactive.
Post Reply