The Startech Plasma Converter: More Waste-to-Fuel Rocket Science

At its most serious, the Startech Plasma Converter sounds like something out of a "Dr. Who" episode and at its least, like something from Ghostbusters. The whole process is very scientific and confusing, but basically what happens is that waste goes in, and fuel comes out. (You may recall that we recently highlighted two similar processors.) Essentially, materials formerly thought of as waste are recycled and processed as “feed stock” to make commodities, in this case, fuel...

As far as we can tell, what happens is that the mechanism, which can simultaneously accommodate any proportion or combination of solid, liquid, and gaseous input, takes in “waste” materials (hazardous and non-hazardous liquids, solids, and gases). Next, a crazy cyclone breaks everything apart, then things get “quenched,” or re-hydrated, so that byproducts of incineration are kept at bay. A few more ringers to go through (trapping bad dust and harmful metals and saving valuable metals) and, somehow, out comes plasma converted gas, i.e. fuel, essentially in the form of hydrogen. Chemical residue left behind can be recycled into plastics. We don’t know how long it will be until this concept hits the big time, but apparently Startech is already working international architecture firm Skidmore Owings and Merrill on the architectural design and construction of Plasma Converter Resource Recovery Centers. We’re not sure what the dangers are of these types of machines, but it’s interesting to see the envelope being pushed. Thanks for the tip Eliot. ::Startech [by MO]