Plasma arcs could cure landfill problem

In the U.S., there are approximately 2,000 landfill sites. The country generates about 230 million tons of solid waste a year.

Thanks to recycling and other efforts, only around half of this will end up in landfills.

But under these usage rates, there will be a need for landfills.

Existing landfills will fill up. As we recently saw in Yorkville, this is an understandably contentious issue.

There is a way to reduce reliance on landfills. A new technology, plasma-arc gasification, can help.

As explained in the book, "A Contract with the Earth," plasma arcs can heat garbage to 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

The byproduct is a rock-like substance called slag. This by-product can be sold and used in constructing roads and highways. Using this slag would lessen the environmental impact of mining for construction materials.

A portion of the gas and steam produced by this process can be used to run turbines and generate electricity to power the plant. Excess electricity can be sold to power companies.

Georgia Tech scientist Louis Cicero has suggested a nationwide system of plasma facilities can produce the equivalent electricity of 25 nuclear power plants.

This does not have to be done with government monies. An Atlanta, Ga., company, Geoplasma, is building such a plant in Florida.

A past objection to incinerators was possible air pollution. Better technology has addressed this concern. Similar plasma-arc gasification processes are already operating in Japan, meeting tougher emissions standards than in the U.S.

Dean Myles

Aurora