This nondescript piece of equipment can transform waste into a combustible gas, which can then be converted into ethanol.
Integrated Environmental Technologies, LLC
Researchers find a way to make liquid fuels from waste cheaply and without the pollution produced by earlier methods.
A new system for converting trash into ethanol and methanol could help reduce the amount of waste piling up in landfills while displacing a large fraction of the fossil fuels used to power vehicles in the United States.
The technology, developed originally by researchers at MIT and at Batelle Pacific Northwest National Labs (PNNL), in Richland, WA, doesn't incinerate refuse, so it doesn't produce the pollutants that have historically plagued efforts to convert waste into energy. Instead, the technology vaporizes organic materials to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide, a mixture called synthesis gas, or syngas, that can be used to synthesize a wide variety of fuels and chemicals. The technology has been further developed and commercialized by a spinoff called Integrated Environmental Technologies (IET), also based in Richland, WA. In addition to processing municipal waste, the technology can be used to create ethanol out of agricultural biomass waste, providing a potentially less expensive way to make ethanol than current corn-based plants.
The new system makes syngas in two stages. In the first, waste is heated in a 1,200 °C chamber into which a small amount of oxygen is added--just enough to partially oxidize carbon and free hydrogen. In this stage, not all of the organic material is converted: some becomes a charcoal-like material. This char is then gasified when researchers pass it through arcs of plasma, using technology developed in the 1990s at MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center. The remaining inorganic materials, including toxic substances, are oxidized and incorporated into a pool of molten glass, made using PNNL technology. The molten glass hardens into a material that can be used for building roads or discarded as a safe material in landfills.
The next step is a catalyst-based process for converting syngas into equal parts ethanol and methanol. Ethanol is now widely used as a fuel additive, and it can also be used as a substitute for gasoline in some vehicles. Methanol is important for producing biodiesel and is currently made from methane in natural gas.
There is enough municipal and industrial waste produced in the United States for the system to replace as much as a quarter of the gasoline used in this country, says Daniel Cohn, a cofounder of IET and a senior research scientist at the Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
According to Jeff Surma, another cofounder and the CEO and president of IET, the multistage system makes it possible to produce fuels from waste at competitive costs. The economics look even better when including the fact that cities and manufacturers will pay to have waste removed, he says. This makes possible costs of between 10 and 95 cents per gallon of fuel, depending on the size of IET's system and how much it is paid to take waste. IET is currently in talks with a major Midwest utility and several municipalities interested in employing its technology, Surma says.
But George Sterzinger, executive director of the Renewable Energy Policy Project, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C., cautions that IET shouldn't rely too much on being paid for its feedstock. It will face stiff competition from landfills, which have an economic stake in keeping the waste to themselves, he says.
At this stage, multiple new approaches for transforming waste into biofuels are being explored, and the winner is not yet clear. IET's success will depend in large part on how it scales up its technology and develops a complete system, from getting the waste in the first place to distributing the fuel that it makes.
Waste Management, a large waste company, gives technology for gasifying trash a boost.
A city being built in Abu Dhabi will serve as a large-scale test for renewable energy.
Has an energy payback been posted for this process?
Note: ennergy payback is energy net yield afte the energy used for processing and transport are deducted, ethanol yield is about 25% and biodiesel 35%.
iet has been around for some time. did they achieve a new breakthrough or a real demonstration or is this just the delay in information dispersal through the press?
http://www.nathanielenergy.com/home_frame.cfm
from it's 'about' page:
"As a leader in renewable energy technology and engineering, Nathaniel Energy Corporation develops environmentally safe energy infrastructures that produce electricity, heat, and steam using its proprietary patented technology, the Thermal Gasifier™. The Thermal Gasifier’s™ gasification system converts waste, biomass, tires and other solid carbon based materials into electricity and thermal energy, while capturing the pollutants." ...
I'm just a bit curious about their proprietary patent on their thermal process. Extracting flammable gas from organic materials in an oxygen deprived environment is nothing new. We did it in jr. high using a flame held under some wood chips in a glass test tube. Using hot plasma to further process the charcoal as mentioned here might be a novel secondary process, I wonder what's so special about Nathaniel Energy's methods.
compare to method used at Expo 2005 japan
It seems to me that the process used to provide power for the EXpo 2005 in Japan is simular, but maybe better,since no burning is involved. It used a process called methane fermentation. The organic waste from the site was fermented into methane gas, and hydrogen was extracted from the methane. the hydrogen powered the fuel cells that generated some of the expo's energy. The only by-products were water and fertilizer.
Whereas, the process mentioned in Technology Review produces waste.
I am sorry, however, that I don't have specific manufacturer information, since my source doesn't include it. The net doesn't seem to contain much coverage of the EXpo either.
I am disappointed that this and other technologies displayed at this Expo were not covered in Technology Review.
Re: compare to method used at Expo 2005 japan
In addition to original listing. Here is a link to what seems to to be the manufacturer's site for methane fermentation.
http://www.gec.jp/JSIM_DATA/WATER/WATER_3/html/Doc_251.html
here is a link to search results for the term:
http://search.earthlink.net/search?area=earthlink-ws-altsearchbox&q=methane%20fermentation
This company is trying to built a PEM500 (to process Medical waste)never tested before, in Red Bluff California and has manage to get a permit without an environment impact report. People of this area have been fighting against this project and after days of hearings in December 2006 the project was overturned. IET fought this decision to court and we are awaiting the final decision, 2 more hearings are scheduled on the 15th and 16th of this month. I have listen to many hearings and learned a lot, what is very scary, if I may say and if I understood every thing correctly (I believe I did) is to have discovered that IET is showing result of test which have been performed on a smaller installation and performed by EVTEC related to IET. So not an independant research center.
As a person I made a lot of researches myself and discovered in the scientific and technology report I read that IET is also interested in treating radioactive, hazardous, industrial, tire, incinerator ash waste as well. Their operation in Washington is non-operational and their installation in Hawaii had been shut down because of breakdown.
I would appreciate any information on them and would advice anyone to investigate them toroughly before accepting their findings.
Thank you
I'm an event producer and would like to utilize this technology onsite at events. Does any know who I can talk to to help me bring this to life?
thanks
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ventsyv
5 Comments
Question about IET
Interested by your article, I went online to check IET out. However, there seem to be three different companies with the name Integrated Environmental Technologies, namely:
1. Integrated Environmental Technologies LLC
2. Integrated Environmental Technologies Ltd
3. Integrated Environmental Technologies Inc
Numbers two and three seem to be the same company, both located in Little River, SC. Number one however is located in Richland, WA.
Could someone please verify which one is the company featured in the article ?
Reply
prigat2
3 Comments
Re: Question about IET
In the article, the IET it mentiontions is in Richland, Wa
Reply