Waste treatment technology into green energy

Hundreds of stinking landfills are worrying environmental issues in Canada. It's not just the bad smell, but carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) that comes out of the garbage. It is estimated that every landfill releases 25 million tons of CO2 - equivalent to the emissions of 5.5 million cars. More and more solutions to reduce or reuse all waste from organic waste to radioactive waste. For these North American business companies, garbage can be ' treasure ' that brings a large amount of commercially valuable energy and reusable materials.

Process garbage into fuel according to the Verti-gro method.(Photo: fieldviewfarmllc)

After years of implementing waste management projects abroad, some Canadian companies realized it was time to deal with the garbage dumping on the ' yard '. The Plasco Energy Group in Ottawa city is granted a patent for plasma technology to convert urban waste into electricity. This process has been applied to a factory on the outskirts of Barcelona (Spain). Early next year, Plasco will run a joint venture waste treatment plant with the $ 27 million Ottawa government in the city. According to Brod Bryden, Plasco CEO, Canada is catching up with Europe about bringing ' green ' to landfills. Plasco technology will convert 1 ton of waste into enough energy for a household for 45 days. During the treatment process, a ton of waste also produced 150 kg of solid, inert materials suitable for construction projects, 5 kg of pure sulfur, 200 kg of waste water and 300 g of heavy metal that could not be used. .

Another company is carrying out waste-to-fuel projects outside of Canada, Richway Environmental Technologies, known for its technology of turning organic waste, such as straw, electricity into and limiting emissions in too much. process. Richway said many investors have come to question the joint venture to build factories in British Columbia and Calgary. Global Green Solutions of the US is about to commercialize Verti-gro technology that combines sunlight, algae and CO ₂ to produce vegetable oil and can then be converted into biofuels. A $ 3.5 million pilot factory has just started in Texas. According to Global, conventional treatment solutions only produce 68 tons of corn oil per 0.4 hectares of arable land, while the Vert-gro creates 680 tons on the same area.

While some businesses focus on converting everyday waste into fuel or new materials, others are seeking to treat hazardous waste into safe materials. For example, AMEC Group in British Columbia is designing a waste cleaning facility at World War II plutonium production plant in Washington state.

AMEC owns GeoMelt technology using a temperature of about 2,000 ^° C to melt solid waste that hardens into a solid like glass that can be buried in soil or recycled. 'This is a unique radioactive waste treatment technology' , said project manager John Stephens. The project in Washington will last for two years, enough time to prove the effectiveness of GeoMelt technology with the US Department of Energy before signing a support contract to clean up the site in 2028.

N.MINH