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Today, the environmental
issues surrounding the processing of medical wastes are
enormous. Great strides have been made developing equipment
and processes to handle this waste while protecting our
environment.
Medical waste thermal treatment
equipment, which utilizes pyrolysis and thermal gasification
related technologies, the very technologies that are being
employed to eliminate hazardous and medical waste and provide
alternative energy, is now being utilized.
Pyrolysis is the thermal
decomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures,
in the absence of gases such as air or oxygen. The process,
which requires heat, produces a mixture of combustible gases
(primarily methane, complex hydrocarbons, hydrogen and carbon
monoxide), liquids and solid residues.
Thermal gasification of
MSW (municipal solid waste) is different from pyrolysis
in that the thermal decomposition takes place in the presence
of a limited amount of oxygen or air. The generated gas
can then be used in either boilers or cleaned up and used
in combustion turbine generators.
Located in a Chicago suburb,
PEAT International, Inc. manufactures a variety of equipment,
including the Plasma Thermal Destruction and Recovery unit
(PTDR), which is used for disposing of types of medical
waste and is certified as an “alternative-to-incineration”
technology for medical waste in the State of California.
 “We
use plasma energy within a thermal reactor to remediate
and convert waste into energy,” says Frank Menon,
PEAT’s CEO. “Temperatures in the reactor are
in the 2,000 C range. We use plasma torches, where the temperatures
in those plumes are in the range of 7,500 C.”
PEAT has already built
two facilities in Taiwan, one at the National Cheng Kung
University that can handle five metric tons per-day and
another that can process 10 tons per-day. These facilities
can process a wide range of solid waste streams, including
incinerator fly ash, medical waste, organic hazardous waste
and inorganic sludge.
“This was the first
time that the government of Taiwan committed financial and
technical resources to the utilization of plasma technology,”
says Menon, who adds that 10-ton facility in Taiwan is being
expanded in terms of types and amounts of waste. “We’re
also expanding in India. We’re partnering with the
largest incineration company in India to use pyrolysis and
plasma technology to remediate hazardous wastes which are
being stockpiled today.”
Menon notes that plasma
remediation is taken more seriously in countries such as
Korea, Japan and Taiwan because tipping fees for medical
waste are much higher there compared to those in the United
States and that they have stricter standards for remediation.
“Now the U.S. is
changing towards that,” he says. “We’re
talking with a couple of local hospitals in Chicago that
have been forced to shut down their incinerators. It’s
just a matter of time before the education level in the
U.S. public reaches a certain level where they know what
plasma is, what it can do and that it’s not incineration.”
The PDTR system, on average,
can reduce medical waste in terms of volume and weight an
average of 85 to 95 percent to create a molten slag and
when processed, is converted into fine silicon sand. The
slag can be mixed in concrete aggregate and used in roadbed
construction.
“All the results
that are coming back are that 99.9 percent of all by-products
coming from pyrolysis of any waste are going to be re-usable,”
says Menon.
In terms of energy production,
the results are two-fold: the production of syn gas –
a variant of natural gas that is cleaner burning because
it does not contain any of the arsenics found in natural
gas and using the heat to produce electricity to run steam
turbines.
“We’ve been
getting some tremendous results in Taiwan,” says Menon.
“The project was primarily done to test case what
can be done with medical waste, as well as the fly ash from
incinerators that had just done medical waste. We did not
expect much syn gas from the fly ash, but we saw high volumes
being generated and that was because the incinerators were
unable to combust completely.
“Overall, the syn
gas values have been high to the point where we spoke with
Jenbacker, a division of General Electric – they have
turbines and engines that would be able to utilize our syn
gas in the production of electricity.”
The heat generated from
the plasma process is piped into turbines, which helps to
run generators.
Las Vegas-based North American
Power Company manufactures the Thermal Recovery Unit, which
comes in two models that utilize the pyrolysis method. The
smaller unit can dispose of 12 tons per day, while the larger
unit has a capacity of over 75 tons per day.
“The capacity is
such that a mid-level regional hospital is not gong to be
able to use it as effectively as consolidating five or six
hospital together,” says Ed Stammel, NAPC’s
founder. “The machine formally degrades any organic
material that is introduced into the process. The resulting
product is reduced by an average 85 to 95 percent in weight
and volume. The resulting carbon char – we have not
found a case where it has not been – is sterile, non-leachable,
non-hazardous and can be thrown away in a landfill or used
for other purposes.”
The recovery unit is approved
by the State of California’s Department of Health
Services as an alternative treatment technology for the
destruction of medical waste.
The equipment, whether
it is sold outright or utilized as part of joint venture
participations and private programs, is now part of the
recycling landscape.
The heat generated from
the destruction process can be recovered and used to provide
energy.
“You can run it through
a steam turbine process,” says Stammel. “It
can be used anywhere there is a need, whether it be for
drying, energy production, heating and hydroponics. We have
a client that will be using the equipment for its very large-scale
MSW plant.”
United Recycling Technology
Inc., a Nevada corporation with offices in Los Angeles founded
in 2001 by Aram Sarkissian, is currently in the process
of selecting a site to house its Medical Waste Gasification
Process unit – a southern California facility will
be able to process 2,000 pounds of waste per hour.
“The unit has already
been tested and is ready to run,” says Sarkissian,
the president of the company. “On average, you are
looking at about a 90 percent reduction in weight and volume.
Everything turns into a silicon carbon ash substance. A
major advantage is the reduction of the cradle-to-grave
liability, as opposed to an autoclave that will only disinfect.
After the process of an autoclave, the material is usually
shredded, placed in a compactor and then discarded in a
landfill. As well, our system has no additional emission
controls that are required.”
In addition to being able
to handle all varieties of medical waste, the excess energy
created by the process will be recycled.
“We can take the
gasses, run them in our burners and save on gas,”
says Sarkissian. “The system can be self-running.”
United Recycling, whose
equipment has also received certification from the state,
is looking into developing partnerships with out-of-state
clients.
“We are open to explore
other states because we have met and exceeded the strict
standards of California,” says Sarkissian.
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