M. Young, S. Armstrong, J. Farias, R. Thompson, W. Wang
Trashology,
United States
Keywords: waste-to-energy, gasification, solid waste
Summary:
The current waste management system of hauling and landfilling is inefficient and neither sustainable with negative impacts to the environment through land usage, air emissions, and leachate nor cost-effective with annual increases in tipping fees. In the United States, landfills are the third-largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions, which have a global warming potential of 25 and 85 over a 100 year and 20 year period, respectively. Focused on sustainability and protecting the environment, Trashology has developed technology and continues to innovate new processes that remove the negative aspects of traditional waste management. Trashology’s flagship product, Pur-Gen, is a complete waste-to-energy package converting solid waste into electricity. Pur-Gen is a modular, decentralized waste management system that processes waste at the source of generation and outputs electricity that can be directly connected to the main site’s electrical system. Consisting of Solid Waste Pre-processing, Gasification, and Electricity Generation, Pur-Gen can safely process highly variable waste streams for conversion into electricity generation. This presentation will focus on four areas: 1.) The main components of Pur-Gen and process technology; 2.) Applications to the government and commercial sectors; 3.) Historical achievements and current status; 4.) Challenges to adoption and future prospects.