Garbage Power
Forget corn-derived biofuels. Think garbage. The process shown here uses lightning-like arcs of plasma to transform garbage and other waste into gases from which methanol and ethanol can be made. Unlike conventional incineration, it doesn’t generate toxic pollutants, and it yields up to six times as much energy as it consumes. Since its fuel–garbage–would be brought to a landfill or incinerator anyway, the technique would avoid the extra energy costs associated with growing and processing corn. The technology, based on research at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and the Pacific Northwest National Lab in Richland, WA, is now being commercialized by Integrated Environmental Technologies (IET), also in Richland. There’s enough energy in U.S. municipal and other waste to replace as much as a quarter of the gasoline the country uses, says Daniel Cohn, cofounder of IET and senior research scientist at the MIT center. IET is in talks with a utility and several municipalities to construct the first such plants, says CEO Jeff Surma.
Multimedia
View the process of transforming garbage to waste.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet. How did screenshots end up on Facebook?
Robot vacuum companies say your images are safe, but a sprawling global supply chain for data from our devices creates risk.
A startup says it’s begun releasing particles into the atmosphere, in an effort to tweak the climate
Make Sunsets is already attempting to earn revenue for geoengineering, a move likely to provoke widespread criticism.
10 Breakthrough Technologies 2023
The viral AI avatar app Lensa undressed me—without my consent
My avatars were cartoonishly pornified, while my male colleagues got to be astronauts, explorers, and inventors.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.