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Construction cost (million US$) of thermal plasma treatment plants according to treatment capacity (TPD)
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... furnace due to the O 2 -starved conditions inside the integrated furnace. The concentrations of dioxin were 1.04 ng-TEQ/Nm 3 at the outlet of the integrated furnace and 0.05 ng-TEQ/Nm 3 at the stack, which were much lower than those of conventional incineration plants. This result suggests that negligible amounts of PCDD/DFs were produced in the thermal plasma gasification plant due to the high temperature of the integrated furnace. The concentrations of NO x and SO x were 10 and 4 ppm, respectively, which is increased somewhat at the stack. This is because of the syngas combustion chamber. The concentrations of CO, HCl, and dust are 5 ppm, 1.92 ppm, and 4.15 mg/Sm 3 , respectively, which satisfied the requirements of current legislation. These results indicated that the thermal plasma process for the treatment of MSW is an environmentally friendly process. As mentioned above, we don’t reuse the generated syngas for the recovery of energy at 10 TPD thermal plasma gasification plant; we have just combusted syngas in the syngas combustion chamber. However, recently, we have tried to utilize syngas generated from MSW as an energy source. We combined the thermal plasma gasification plant with 50 kW proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) from November, 2010 to October, 2011. We installed WGS and PSA to make high purity H 2 (> 99.999%); we already demonstrated to make high-purity H 2 (>99.99%) using WGS and PSA in 3 TPD thermal plasma gasification plant using paper mill waste [26]. Finally, we succeed to make high-purity H 2 (>99.999%) and generate electricity from 50 kW PEMFC. We will report those results in time. We have believed strongly that these trials also can widen the applicability of thermal plasma process for MSW. Based on the obtained data from the 10 TPD thermal plasma plant, we could obtain design parameters for a 100 TPD plant. It is considered that the MSW has 3,300 kcal/kg of heating value. Figure 9 shows the schematic of overall process of 100 TPD thermal plasma plant for MSW treatment. A 100 TPD thermal plasma plant consists of six main sections for the gasification of MSW: (1) An MSW storage unit and feeding system, (2) an integrated furnace equipped with two non-transferred thermal plasma torches, (3) effluent gas treatment systems, including water quencher and scrubber, (4) a syngas combustion chamber, (5) an air preheater/gas cooler, and (6) a steam turbine (which was not included in the 10 TPD plant). An energy balance for the overall process is presented in Figure 10. The third line of the table inserted in Figure 10 shows the latent heat of the produced syngas. The specific different characteristics between the 10 and 100 TPD scales are also tabulated in Table 7. At 10 TPD capacity, the power consumption of the plasma torch used for the treatment of 1 ton of MSW was 0.817 MWh/ton. At 100 TPD, use of 0.447 MWh/ton of thermal plasma power is planned. At 10 TPD, the heat loss of the overall process through the wall was 14% and the energy contained in the effluent gases of the stack was 16%. However, we considered, at 100 TPD, the heat loss of the overall process through the wall would be 7% and the energy contained in the effluent gases of the stack would be 10%. In addition, at a 10 TPD scale, syngas and the heat generated from heat exchanger have not been reused, however, at 100 TPD, the energy generated from syngas and heat exchanger through steam generators would be used. The energy reused by the two steam generators would be 73% of the input energy (a ratio of 12 plus 13 (16,679 Mcal/hr) to 1 plus 2 (22,858 Mcal/hr) in Figure 10). The major disadvantage of thermal plasma gasification processes mentioned by many scientists and engineers is the use of electricity, which is an expensive energy source [32]. The economics of thermal plasma gasification processes have many variable parameters such as regional characteristics, types of solid wastes to be processed, capacity, and others. In the USA, the cost of a landfill is approximately 30-80 US$/ton and the average incineration cost is 69 US$/ton [50]. However, the average cost of landfills and incinerators in small countries such as Japan and European countries is approximately 200-300 US$/ton since land is more scarce [50], meaning that the economics of thermal plasma gasification for MSW is improved in these regions. Presently, the average construction cost of thermal plasma plants is estimated to approximately 0.13-0.39 million US$/TPD. Dodge estimated that the construction cost of a 750 TPD is 150 million US$, which is equivalent to 0.2 million US$/TPD [51]. The construction cost of the 300 TPD plant in Utashinai, Japan was approximately 0.17 million US$/TPD. A 600 TPD thermal plasma plant in St. Lucie, Canada planned by Geoplasma using Alter NRG’s thermal plasma torch is also 0.17 million US$/TPD. The initial project planning to construct a 2,700 TPD by Geoplasma in St. Lucie had a 0.13 million US$/TPD construction cost. Figure 11 shows the trend of construction cost according to capacity; cases of GS Platech (10 and 100 TPD scales) will be discussed detailed in below. Although the prices of each country are different and data are not enough fully, the trend of construction cost according to capacity could be identified. 0.39 million US$/TPD applies to the 10 TPD plant constructed by GS Platech in Korea. For capacities between 250 and 750 TPD, around 0.17-0.22 million US$/TPD is applicable. Above 2,000 TPD, 0.13 million US$/TPD is applicable. These results indicate that thermal plasma gasification processes are more economical if the treatment capacity is increased. Presently, detailed operational costs of each case are not available other than GS Platech. In addition, there are many methods to utilize byproducts generated during MSW gasification. For example, syngas, which could be used for the generation of high value products such as fuel, chemical compounds, and high purity hydrogen, would work to this effect. This means that, although thermal plasma technology is well-established, there are still many fields to investigate for enhancing the economics of the process. We can obtain detailed economic evaluations for a 10 TPD plant, including construction and operation costs (Table 8). 3.9 million US$ was the total construction cost of a 10 TPD or 0.39 million US$/TPD. Operation costs include labor costs, depreciation cost, overhead charges, and insurance. Labor cost for 12 labors and overhead charges are 0.49 and 0.24 million US$/year, respectively. Depreciation cost and insurance are 0.26 and 0.02 million US$/year, respectively. Total operation costs are 0.99 million US$/year. This is equivalent to 300 US$/ton without VAT. 110 US$/ton is received from local government for treating MSW in Cheongsong, Korea, which would vary by region. Therefore, total profit is negative (-190 US$/ton). However, economics will be improved if treatment scale is increased because of the following three reasons. First, the construction cost will be decreased as the capacity is increased, as mentioned above. This will cause a decrease in depreciation cost. Second, syngas can generate profit as an energy source. Presently, we are abandoning generated syngas because the amounts generated are not sufficient to use as an energy source. Lastly, the operation of a plant is an economy of scale. As the capacity increases, labor costs, overhead charge, and etc will decrease. Although these numerical economics were obtained for a 10 TPD plant, these experiences indicate that the thermal plasma gasification process is a viable alternative economically if the scale increases. Based on this information, total construction cost for a 100 TPD scale plant would be 24.8 million US$, or 0.25 million US$/TPD. Operation cost consists of fixed cost, variable cost, and insurance. In fixed cost, labor cost, depreciation cost, and overhead charges such as fringe benefits, safe maintenance costs, training expense, and per diem and travel expenses are included; total fixed cost would be 2.39 million US$/year. Variable cost including maintenance, electricity, chemical, water costs would be 0.82 million US$/year. All of the variable costs with insurance is 0.94 million US$/year. Based on the energy balance and operational costs (Figure 10 and Table 9), profit from selling electricity generated from steam turbines would also be generated (Table 10). The recovery heat values from two steam generators are 16,679 Mcal/hr (12 plus 13 in Figure 10). Considering the total efficiency of a steam supply and power generation using a steam turbine as 26%, 4,286 Mcal/hr of electricity could be generated, which is equivalent to 5,000 kW of electricity. 2,000 kW of electricity is necessary to generate thermal plasma torches and utilities meaning that 3,000 kW of electricity could be sold to grid and is equivalent to 23.8 million kWh/year. Considering the selling price of electricity as 10.9 cent/kWh, total profit per year from selling electricity would be around 2.6 million US$/year; the selling price of electricity recovered from MSW is relatively high compared to other electricity prices due to the government’s renewable portfolio standards (RPS) policy promoting the use of renewable energy in Korea. In addition, profit could be obtained from treating MSW. 110 US$/ton is paid by the local government for treating MSW in Cheongsong, Korea, which means that, 100 TPD MSW is treated, profit for treating MSW would be 3.6 million US$/year. Therefore, total profits are 6.2 million US$/year (2.6 million US$/ year plus 3.6 million US$/ year). Considering the operation cost (3.34 million US$/year), it can be concluded that total margin for a 100 TPD MSW treatment plant using thermal plasma gasification would be about 2.86 million US$/year (6.2 million US$/year minus 3.34 million US$/year), which is equivalent to 86 US$/ton. Based on these design parameters, energy balance, and economic ...
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... The plasma can also be generated from a wide range of gases, providing flexibility in terms of reactant selection and process optimization [137]. PH has been explored for various H 2 production processes, with applications spanning different feedstock types, such as gas (e.g., CH 4 , CO 2 , RNG, and natural gas) [139][140][141][142][143][144], solid (e.g., biomass, coal, electronic waste, and MSW) [145][146][147][148][149][150][151], and liquid (e.g., ethanol, methanol, and heavy oils) [152][153][154]. The choice of feedstock and the specific plasma-assisted process depend on factors, such as resource availability, process efficiency, and the desired scale of production. ...
... In the case of coal PG, higher H 2 yields (63%) [165] and lower CO 2 emissions can be achieved due to the enhanced gasification efficiency and reduced formation of pollutants in the plasma environment [145,149]. In addition, the PG can effectively convert waste streams, such as MSW, plastics, and tires, into valuable products, like H 2 , while simultaneously addressing waste management challenges [148,150,151]. The high temperatures and chemically reactive environment of the plasma enable the breakdown of complex polymers and organic compounds present in the waste, resulting in the formation of H 2 and other gases. ...
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... [TA3]: Plasma arc gasification with hydrogen separation: PAG is an extension of conventional gasification, wherein plasma torches are used to substantially raise the temperature of MSW in an oxygen-starved environment to generate synthetic gas (syngas). The syngas is then purified, before being sent to a hydrogen recovery system that consists of a water gas shift (WGS) unit to convert the carbon monoxide to hydrogen and a Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) unit for the separation and purification of hydrogen [8]. ...
... It is, therefore, quite difficult to extract the technology cost function from the few data points available. We rely on the 6 projects reported in [8] and perform power regression for the relationship between capital cost and capacity (in tons of MSW per year) to obtain the relation $491.11 3 0.8111 . By accounting for inflation (3% per year over 12 years) and amortizing the capital cost using the CRF of 0.11683, we get the investment cost function for the plasma reactor as 81.8 3 0.8111 $/year. ...
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... The cost is not available for Indian scenario. The construction and operation costs are taken from international references for a 10 TPD (Tons per Day) MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) gasification plant 4 . This is only up to gas storage and the generation system is not included in the cost. ...
... Based on the experience of 10 TPD plant the estimated cost for a 100 TPD plant is given below 4 In respect of biomedical wastes the cost will be little more expensive due to hazardous material handling system. ...
The Biomedical Wastes (BMW) include variety of materials like plastics, radioactive elements, metals, infectiousbiomolecules, etc which are hazardous and pose potential health risk to the people when they are directly released toenvironment. There are many technologies for treating biomedical wastes like incineration, steam sterilisation beforelandfilling, etc. The plasma gasification is the state of art technology for the safe disposal of BMW and also convert themto energy. The plasma gasification operates at very high temperatures and the conversion percentage is relatively highcompared to any other gasification technologies. The concept of plasma gasification for BMW and the other technoeconomical aspects are discussed in this paper.
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