Plasma Arc Gasification Application to the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii

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dc.contributor.advisorSingh, Amarjit
dc.coverage.spatialHonolulu, Hawaii
dc.creatorTramontano, Rocoo
dc.creatorSingh, Amarjit
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-30T02:16:37Z
dc.date.available2024-05-30T02:16:37Z
dc.date.issued2018-12
dc.description.abstractThis report will examine the application of plasma arc gasification technology to the City and County of Honolulu for the disposal of municipal solid waste. The report will examine history of the technology, the technology itself, and how it can be used to address the existing concerns of the traditional disposal methods of municipal solid waste. The environmental aspects of the technology and its implications will be presented and compared to the traditional WTE process of incineration. Additionally, we will further examine the major financial and economic implications associated of the technology. In a basic explanation, plasma arc gasification is the process where feedstock material (municipal solid waste, construction & demolition debris, hazardous waste, ash, etc.) is burned at extremely high temperatures that creates a molten slag byproduct that can be used for construction applications when cooled, and a synthetic gas that can be used as fuel for electricity. The technology of Alter NRG, the parent company of Westinghouse Plasma Corporation is an industry leader in plasma technology and its application using municipal solid waste will be applied to this study. Their G65 reactor is capable of processing 1000 tons of feedstock (municipal solid waste) that would create 250 tons of slag, 41 net MW of electricity, and send 20 tons of waste to landfill (2% of the initial feedstock) that cannot be recycled through the plant. Our analysis breaks down the cost per ton to process municipal solid waste as a feedstock, and compares it to the existing facilities and technology used on the island. At the end of our analysis it was found that plasma arc gasification can generate a positive net revenue of up to $168 per ton of municipal solid waste depending on the feedstock. What makes this technology so profitable is the high cost of electricity in the State of Hawaii, which is three times the national average across all sectors. The electricity generated can be sold to the Hawaiian Electric Company for profit. Other sources of revenue generated are gate fees to process the waste, recycling of ferrous and nonferrous recyclable materials prior to processing, and the sale of the inert slag byproduct. Together these revenue streams from PAG in Hawaii offset the capital cost of $341.5 million to construct a 1000 ton per day facility. This study will attempt to show how this technology can be a solution to Oahu’s waste predicament as the existing landfill only has the capacity to last less than 25 more years, and how unique factors present in the State of Hawaii could make this technology both environmentally and economically profitable.
dc.formatTechnical Report
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/108163
dc.languageeng
dc.rightshttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-NC/1.0/
dc.subjectPlasma Arc Gasification
dc.subjectH-Power
dc.subjectMass Burn Facility
dc.subjectAlter NRG
dc.subjectEconomic Comparison
dc.subjectWaimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill
dc.subjectWGSL
dc.titlePlasma Arc Gasification Application to the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii
dcterms.typeText

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