Just a disgusting waste or the fuel towards a sustainable future? Who could have thought that the solid wastes people generate everyday could be fueling biosphere machine to produce green energy? Yes, it’s really possible with today’s technology. Just take for example the biosphere gasification technology developed and invented by Dr. Chris McCormack. It’s a gasification process which destroys wastes by means of thermal decomposition to convert them into green energy. In this process 7% of the solid wastes are converted into inert ash or pozzolanic ash while the remaining 93% turns into mixed gas, referred to as syngas or synthesis gas. Then this syngas is delivered via a venturi to a steam boiler / turbine combination without separation for power generation.
The wastes that can be converted into green energy using this technology includes municipal solid waste, agricultural waste, forestry surpluses or wastes, industrial waste, medical waste materials, and traditional fossil fuels. Imagine eliminating all these kinds of wastes to generate green energy for the whole world? It’s an ingenious idea indeed.
Moreover, the Biosphere Gasification Process differs from traditional gasification that does not separate or purify syngas. Rather, in Biosphere Process™ there’s a direct heat transfer which significantly enhances the efficiency of the system compared to other technologies. This technology is also considered to be very ecological since it is done under controlled oxygen thereby does not emit harmful gases to the atmosphere. It has passed all European and US atmospheric emissions standards including the latest US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) regulations.
When operated on Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), the Biosphere Process takes place in five distinct stages:
Stage One: Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is collected and delivered to a biosphere process facility. Each facility provides 100% recycling of the total MSW collected and it is designed to be a standalone facility with internal air control ensuring that it does not emit any prohibited emissions to the atmosphere.
Stage Two: The collected MSW is sorted to segregate materials for compost production, plastics, rubber recovery, metals, glass and finally for electrical power generation. Usually, each biosphere facility operates at a rate of tons per hour wherein each receiving line separates MSW into two feedstock steams comprising putrescible (organic) and non-putrescible (non-organic) materials.
Stage Three: In this stage, all other materials in the waste steam is forced through a Biosphere Densifier 3 which compacts the MSW into 20g flakes with 15-20 % moisture termed Biosphere Flakes 4 at a rate of 30 tons per hour.
Stage Four: The biosphere flakes are converted into a 1000 (degree) C – 1800 (degree) C flux using a Biosphere Venturi 5. This process produces the inert ash which is then recycled into concrete products for the construction industry.
Stage Five: The 1000 (degree) C – 1800 (degree) C flux produced in stage four is utilized to power a 6 MW steam turbine for Micro Power Generation, and then the by-product of electricity production is desalination and/or water purification.