Plasma Turns Garbage into Gas

[DogPoundPup]

Scientific American

Every year 130 million tons of America’s trash ends up in landfills. Together the dumps emit more of the greenhouse gas methane than any other human-related source. But thanks to plasma technology, one city’s rotting rubbish will soon release far less methane—and provide power for 50,000 homes—because of an innovation in plasma technology backed by Atlanta-based Geoplasma.

Engineers have developed an efficient torch for blasting garbage with a stream of
superheated gas, known as plasma. When trash is dropped into a chamber and heated
to 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, its organic components—food, fluids, paper—vaporize into a hot, pressurized gas, which turns a turbine to generate electricity. Steam, a by-product, can generate more. Inorganic refuse such as metals condense at the bottom and can be used in roadbeds and heavy construction.

Several small plasma plants exist around the world for industrial processes, but Geoplasma is constructing the first U.S. plasma refuse plant in St. Lucie County, Florida. The plant is scheduled to go online by 2011; it will process 1,500 tons of garbage a day, sending 60 megawatts of electricity to the power grid (after using some to power itself).
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=plasma-turns-garbage-into-gas&ec=su_garbagegas

[BR_Parkway]

1. So it will power 60 MW and only use a portion to superheat trash

to 10,000 F - what am I missing here?

[zipplewrath]

2. They are releasing more energy than consuming.

They are releasing far more energy than they are consuming. There assuredly isn't much heat loss allowed in the combustion chamber, so they only need enough energy to raise the gas to 10,000F. (Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if the garbage never gets that hot).