Episode 174 | Gasified Garbage | Reformed Energy
Despite our best efforts to recycle nearly 150 million tons of trash are landfilled every year. The good news is that most of that waste—plastics, paper, food—can be gasified and turned into energy.
“Even if we stopped [adding garbage] today, we could power the world for the next hundred, 200 years,” says Bill Smith, Head of Technology Development for Reformed Energy, a Texas-based gasification company. Bills says their solution, called “plasma gasification,” is able to create enough syngas (carbon monoxide and hydrogen) using 150 kW to power a 3.5 MW gas turbine.
“A gasifier is like a big toaster,” says Bill. He says their technology is just hot enough, about 1,100°C to gasify the carbon-based waste found in landfills. He dubs it “cool plasma,” compared to some gasifiers (4,000°C), which can reach temps high enough to melt metal.
“We stop when we’ve extracted energy,” he says.
Reformed Energy has its sights set on an 8.7-million-ton landfill in Colorado County, west of Houston. Using 20 gasifiers, Bill says it would take 20 years to process all the trash at this site. Syngas from the site would be used to power the site (off-grid) and produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel. Excess power generated would be used to mine bitcoin.
“It’s a free energy source that no one’s tapping into,” says Bill. “We don’t have to make money from the garbage.”
Bill says he believes there’s more than enough garbage to meet our future energy needs. With so much carbon-based material sitting in landfills, why drill or mine new hydrocarbons out of the ground.
“That’s how we’re looking at things,” he says. “How can we get the lowest-hanging fruit, with the least amount of work, but extract the most amount of value?”
Useful Links: