07-02-2010, 06:10 PM
[attachment=1774]
APPLICATION OF PLASMA TECHNOLOGY IN MUNCIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCTION
About one-third of municipal waste consists of electronic &biomedical wastes.
Traditionally, inceneration was used for the disposal
Plasma technology is the most promising technology
The paper describes e-waste & plasma e-waste treatment
By-products of the process and their applications has been discussed
WHAT IS AN E-WASTE?
E-waste is the general catagory of outdated or eliminated electronic goods
Broken TV parts ,CPU & CRT monitors of computers, cell phones etc are examples
A computer contain notable amount of toxic materials
A desk top PC contains 57g of lead, 2.5g of barium,0.01g of arsenic 0.8g of antimony
,and other toxics
If incenerated , they produce volatalised heavy metals & causes public health hazards
PLASMA & ITS PRODUCTION IN PLASMA TORCH
Plasma is known as the fourth state of matter
Plasma is an ionized gas containing free roaming electrons
Plasma generates a magnetic field
Plasma is produced artificially using plasma torch
Temperature ranging from 6273 oC can be obtained from a plasma torch
HISTORY AND AN OVERVIEW
Plasma arc technology was used in industries in late 1800s to obtain high
temperatures
It was used in 1900s in chemical industries for manufacturing acetylene from natural
gas
Used in 1960s by NASA to recreate high heat of re-entry encountered by spacecrafts
Recently in 2000s pilot scale research at MIT ;10,000oc plasma “arc was used to melt
waste material into lava like liquid
DISCUSSIONS AND RESULTS
Disposal of CPU of a computer (0. 2 kg) using plasma flame
Temperature of furnace increase at rapid rate(120 seconds) to 1200k
Power rating of plasma torch=20kw
Treatment finish with 150 seconds
By-product gases (syngas) has high calorific value
CONCLUSION
Plasma pyrolysis of municipal waste has the potential to be more flexible than
incineration because it can be modular
It take very less time to dispose waste materials
This technology can be utilized to run large scale waste treatment plants without
less running cost
This technology can bring prosperity to a country both by e-waste cleaning and by
generation of electricity
By-product of process has varying applications in civil engineering
