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Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Plasma gasification eyed to rid city of garbage
By Albert B. Lacanlale
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Plasma gasification, a non-incineration thermal process which uses extremely high temperatures to decompose input waste material, is being eyed to solve the city's problem on garbage.
With the strict implementation of environmental laws, which either regulate or prevent indiscriminate manner of disposal of municipal solid waste, the City Government opened Monday its doors to such an alternative in dealing with its garbage.
The City officials headed by Mayor Oscar S. Rodriguez were briefed by Jose Ma. Tugas, chairman and president of Jomcret Trade and Development Corporation, with regard to the implementation of a Plasma Arc Gasification (PAG) System Facility here.
Tugas said the City - through the PAG system - could transform the waste materials into plasma-converted gas for energy and obsidian glass that could be used in the construction industry.
As opposed to incineration, which is illegal under Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, the PAG system treats waste materials in an oxygen-starved environment to completely decompose input waste material into very simple molecules.
The extreme heat at about 80,000 degrees Fahrenheit and lack of oxygen result in pyrolysis of the input waste material. Pyrolysis means decomposition of matter in the absence of oxygen wherein by-products are a combustible gas and an inert slag.
Some 300 kilograms of waste input can produce only about one kilogram of residue, Tugas said.
The low environmental emission characteristics exhibited by plasma gasification indicate that it can be used as a waste treatment alternative to other technologies with substantial environmental emission level improvements for both air emissions and slag leachate toxicity.
The system also omits the need of garbage segregation.
A similar system is also being eyed by the Angeles City Government, Sun•Star Pampanga learned.
Rodriguez has tasked the City officials to study the proposal as it promises to be more feasible than maintaining a controlled dumpsite, where the City Government already has spent some P5 million.
He said the City Government would also go to places where the technology is being used to confirm the benefits that Tugas has cited during the presentation.
The mayor said with the system, the City could solve its problems on garbage and earn income if it were to open such technology for nearby towns.
(June 28, 2005 issue)
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