Plasma, its role in Waste Processing: a Decision Maker's Guide

Management Briefing
This report is a new comprehensive overview of plasma technologies published by Juniper.  It brings together Juniper’s knowledge of various plasma processes which are being actively promoted and puts the technology in context as an alternative waste treatment solution.

Plasma technologies are seen by many decision makers as sophisticated technologies that offer the potential for complete destruction of waste without the environmental disadvantages that are associated with incineration in many people’s minds.  At the same time, most existing plasma plants have been built for niche applications such as industrial hazardous wastes; plasma suppliers are now turning their attention to MSW and trying to scale-up their plants to handle this kind of waste stream.  The report examines whether or not plasma processes can meet political and technical expectations for addressing MSW on a large scale.

What’s in the Briefing?
This is the most comprehensive overview available of plasma technology in the public domain.  It analyses the current status of the technology for MSW and examines the issues which would be of most interest to potential customers.  It includes the following:

• Lists the main plasma companies
• Provides a simple guide to plasma for waste treatment
• Explains the four main types of plasma process: plasma pyrolysis; plasma combustion; plasma vitrification and plasma gasification.
• Gives the advantages and disadvantages of plasma processes, with a comparison to other more established waste processing technologies
• Compares the proveness of plasma against other thermal waste technologies for solid waste

Examples of specific potential issues identified and discussed within the report include:

• Are plasma technologies proven?
• What is the energy recovery potential of a plasma system?
• Are plasma technologies economically viable?
• Are the outputs valuable resources or secondary wastes?
• Are all plasma outputs marketable?
• Does plasma generate lower emissions than other waste processing technologies?

Table of contents

Why consider plasma?

A simple guide to plasma for waste treatment
What is plasma?

The different types of plasma processes

Which wastes are best suited for plasma processes?
Are plasma processes suitable for processing large volumes of MSW?

Market Opportunities
Market drivers
Which are the most promising markets?
The scale of the opportunity

Companies developing systems for waste applications
Types of configuration by supplier

How real are the claimed advantages?

Are plasma technologies proven?

Outputs: their marketability & environmental footprint
Metals
Vitrified slag
The energy recovery potential of plasma systems

Are claims of lower emissions justified?
Gaseous emissions
Solid residues & liquid effluents

Are plasma technologies economically viable?

Juniper's Opinion

Date published: 15th September, 2006
Price: 350 UK pounds
Number of pages: 48
See also: Plasma Ratings Report


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