I read a recent article in popular scence that talked about a company, startech, that created a machine which takes garbage and turns it into energy. the machine works by subjecting the trash or waste to 30,000 degree tempratures producing a gas that can be turned into hydrogen and a obsidion like glass substance that is nontoxic (japan has one and uses the obsidion in bricks i think). figures that it would be nontoxic though, dont think much of anything can survive a 30,000 degree plasma arc.
any thoughts, opinions, other uses for trash-obsidion? sucker sounds damn impressive to me, bosts a net energy gain from the hydrogen produced. hope cities start using these things soon, taxes be damned i want an obsidion-trash-brick patio someday!
link to website
http://www.startech.net/
plasma converters, energy from well...anything
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mike961734
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Spare Tire
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Sometimes things work like a charm at prototype level, but the upscaling becomes an engineering challenge and economically unviable.
I wonder if the machine takes organic and non-organic trash alike or only organic. I've read about some organic decomposers that breaks trash down to hydrocarbon monomers and small chain polymers (like recycling plastic back into petrolium) and some factories have already been built i don't remember where.
As for this machine, if there's some glassy obsidian leftover, then i guess it must take non-organic stuff too. I'm not sure about the non-toxic claim though. Cause if for example you put lead in, they heat it, you'll still be getting lead back on the other side unless there was some kind of nuclear reaction that changed the element into something else (into gold zomg!). Maybe this is an atomic furnace!
I wonder if the machine takes organic and non-organic trash alike or only organic. I've read about some organic decomposers that breaks trash down to hydrocarbon monomers and small chain polymers (like recycling plastic back into petrolium) and some factories have already been built i don't remember where.
As for this machine, if there's some glassy obsidian leftover, then i guess it must take non-organic stuff too. I'm not sure about the non-toxic claim though. Cause if for example you put lead in, they heat it, you'll still be getting lead back on the other side unless there was some kind of nuclear reaction that changed the element into something else (into gold zomg!). Maybe this is an atomic furnace!
There's a process called Thermal Depolymerization that breaks down plastics and all manner of organic waste into what's essentially gasoline. Even metallic rubbish can be thrown into the mix, with the non-organic constituents being extracted during the process.
The key development towards making this feasible was when somebody came up with a way to use wet (water-laden) garbage and still allow it to work efficiently.
It's noteworthy that gasoline produced by thermal depolymerization of biomass wouldn't contribute to global warming, because no carbon is being brought up from the subterranean realm.
There's probably still a good article about this at the Discover Magazine site, and there's an article also at Wikipedia.
The key development towards making this feasible was when somebody came up with a way to use wet (water-laden) garbage and still allow it to work efficiently.
It's noteworthy that gasoline produced by thermal depolymerization of biomass wouldn't contribute to global warming, because no carbon is being brought up from the subterranean realm.
There's probably still a good article about this at the Discover Magazine site, and there's an article also at Wikipedia.