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Replies to post #18487 on General European Strategic Invt's Inc (GESI)
Over recent years there has been growing interest in the use of gasification technologies to treat solid waste. The concept is not a new one. Indeed gasification itself has been used for over 180 years, and was once in common use to provide gas for heating and lighting. However, these systems typically gasified coal or peat. Early attempts to use municipal waste as a feedstock ran into problems when scaled up unless the input was suitably homogenous. But with its lure of low emissions and a greatly reduced, environmentally sound residue, the story was never going to end there.
Today a number of companies offer technologies which are claimed to solve many of the problems and make the large-scale gasification of mixed solid wastes an environmentally sound reality. Nor is it just the potential environmental benefits which are pushing gasification up the waste treatment agenda. While public opinion in some countries, such as Denmark, is very favourable to traditional thermal treatment facilities for waste, in others, such as the U.S. and UK, incinerator plans often face fierce opposition.
For governments and politicians then, the ability to 'sell' a project to the public as being 'not incineration' can be appealing. A perfect example of this can be seen in the request for proposals made earlier this year by New York City's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, which specifically excludes traditional mass burn technologies. While many highly regarded figures in the industry have questioned this approach, it certainly provides a foot in the door for the gasification industry.
In the UK too, gasification is being given a leg up by government, with such facilities eligible for double support following the latest Renewables Obligation (RO) banding review (See Dr. Matthew Aylott's article on page 24 for a full explanation). Combined with the European Landfill Directive, the UK has become an attractive place to build a waste gasification facility. So much so that Allentown, Pennsylvania based gas processing technology developer, Air Products has chosen to build a 50 MW plasma gasification facility in Teesside in the North East of the country.
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