1 00:00:01,080 --> 00:00:03,440 Speaker 1: Hey there, it's Josh and for this week's s Y 2 00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: s K selects, I've chosen please listen to How Plasma 3 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:10,480 Speaker 1: Waste Converters Work. It is one of those unsung sleeper 4 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:13,120 Speaker 1: episodes that may prove to be one of the greatest 5 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:15,600 Speaker 1: Stuff You Should Know episodes of all time. It talks 6 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: about technology we had never heard of until we came 7 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,079 Speaker 1: across it and started researching it, and still to this day, 8 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:25,400 Speaker 1: five full years later, it is just as mind blowing 9 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: to me as when I first heard about it. So 10 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 1: check out. Please listen to how Plasma waste Converters work. 11 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of I 12 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 13 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:52,200 Speaker 1: Just Charles W. Chuck Bryant, guest producer Noel is here. 14 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: Noel's moved in. Yeah, yeah, so what that that cod 15 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: is on the floor. He works constantly. Uh you know 16 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: what my superhero nickname was as a child. Uh, I'll 17 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:11,839 Speaker 1: tell you Plasma Boy. No it wasn't. Yeah, I'm just kidding. 18 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: That was a weird joke. Why we're talking about plasma 19 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:22,760 Speaker 1: Plasma Boy? Yeah, like a radioactive man in Plasma Boy. Yeah, 20 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: but it wasn't Plasma Boy, it was what was it? 21 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:33,400 Speaker 1: What was the sidekicks name? Radioactive Man Sidekicks? Uh? Now 22 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:40,120 Speaker 1: I want to know, dude. Well, that's a band, I know, 23 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: but I wonder if it's based on that. Maybe I 24 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: don't know. Huh. We'll find out, won't we. Well, we'll 25 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: look it up and then we'll find out with a 26 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: million emails. So um, Plasma Boy, huh. I wish you 27 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: must have an affinity for this episode. Then it's great, Chuck. 28 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: You know when lightning strikes there, We did a pretty 29 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 1: awesome podcast on lightning. Do you remember we talked about 30 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: how it literally rips the sky open, It rips the 31 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: atmosphere open, and as it's traveling down through this ripped 32 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: open atmosphere, the air on either side of this stuff 33 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: is superheated to about twenty thousand degrees. It's more than 34 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: three times the surface temperature of the sun celsius. I 35 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 1: should say celsius, not even fair Nhey, it's about twelve 36 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 1: grand celsius. Roughly, it's super hot, right arm sorry, fair 37 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: Kney does a fair kneit, yeah, twelve grand fair kneite, yeah, okay. 38 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: At any rate, twenty degrees is lightning and this when 39 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:47,360 Speaker 1: the air is superheated, it takes on what's commonly called 40 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: the fourth state of matter, plasma. Right, so you've got solid, 41 00:02:52,520 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 1: boring liquid. The gas awesome, okay, but plasma is super awesome. Gas. 42 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,920 Speaker 1: It's it's a bit like a gas, and usually it 43 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:07,519 Speaker 1: starts out as the gas, but it it holds an 44 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:12,520 Speaker 1: electro magnetic field or creates an electromagnetic field, and it 45 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:15,639 Speaker 1: holds an electrical charge. It has free roaming electrons, it 46 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:18,679 Speaker 1: running through it doing all sorts of crazy stuff. It 47 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:22,120 Speaker 1: just basically breaks gas into like this this crazy, weird 48 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:27,839 Speaker 1: different type of fluid and that's plasma and it's awesome. Yeah. 49 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:33,799 Speaker 1: Ionized gas, yes, pretty good stuff. Uh, super high tempts, 50 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: like you were saying. And because it's a super high 51 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: a tempt, what it can do is it it can 52 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: break down. It can it can it can cause something 53 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: solid to undergo what's called molecular dissociation, which means it's 54 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: not just burning something, it's not melting something. It's actually 55 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: exposing it to so much heat that the molecular bonds 56 00:03:56,720 --> 00:04:01,839 Speaker 1: break apart and it becomes a pile of it's components 57 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: and it breaks it down to from its compound of 58 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 1: molecules to its atomic components. Yeah, pretty amazing. It is 59 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: very amazing. UM. And it's like you said, it's not 60 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:19,159 Speaker 1: it's not UM burning Like this process of UM using 61 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:23,679 Speaker 1: a plasma torch to break something down to decompose it 62 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:27,039 Speaker 1: is actually what it's doing. UM doesn't even need to 63 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: use oxygen nope. UM. So that means that it's a 64 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:36,560 Speaker 1: process called pyrolysis, which is intense, intense heat that creates 65 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: decomposition in some sort of matter, especially organic matter, and UM. 66 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:45,480 Speaker 1: As a result, you get these byproducts. If it's a 67 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 1: an organic piece of materials, say like some corn stalks 68 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: that are using a biomass feedstock, UM, it will become 69 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: something called sin gas. Right. And then if it's something 70 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: like um uh old pair of roller skates, yeah, we'll 71 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,719 Speaker 1: save those. First of all plasma, which is not very 72 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: good any longer. So the leather is was at one 73 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: point organic. I guess it would still be considered an 74 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 1: organic material that turns into gas. The metal in the 75 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:23,280 Speaker 1: skates that will turn into something called slag, right, and 76 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:29,520 Speaker 1: it undergoes the process of vitrification, Yeah, it does. Vitrification 77 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:32,839 Speaker 1: is where this this stuff becomes so the bombs break 78 00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: between it so thoroughly that it becomes basically a form 79 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,919 Speaker 1: of glass, yeah, like volcanic glass, almost at least what 80 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 1: it looks like, Yeah, like obsidient. So all this sounds great. 81 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: We're kind of beating around the bush about what a 82 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 1: plasma torch can do. Um, And here's the big, the 83 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: big bomb boom. Plasma torches can burn garbage and waste. Yes, 84 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:02,760 Speaker 1: and not only at they can burn it without combustion, 85 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:06,880 Speaker 1: which means there's not a bunch of smoke. Yeah, and 86 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:11,360 Speaker 1: they can actually harvest the energy in that garbage in 87 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:16,559 Speaker 1: incredible ways, because it turns out garbage is chock full 88 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: of potential energy. You can release that energy when you 89 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:24,040 Speaker 1: burn it like just regular incineration, but you only can 90 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: maybe net about fifteen percent of the energy that's locked 91 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 1: into this big pile of garbage in like a landfill, right, 92 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: what a waste. With using a plasma torch to create 93 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:40,599 Speaker 1: pyrolysis or gasification, you can net up to eight of 94 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:44,279 Speaker 1: that energy that's locked in their potentially into garbage. So 95 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: what we're talking about is a potential future where we 96 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: are using plasma torches to create energy to sell back 97 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:56,360 Speaker 1: to the grid to create steam to turn those turbines. 98 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 1: Like we're always still just knocked out that that's how 99 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: you create energy these days. I'm sorry electricity. Sure. Uh. 100 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: And then sell off byproducts as well and make more money. Yes, 101 00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:10,720 Speaker 1: it's it's like I cannot be more excited about this. 102 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:17,080 Speaker 1: And medical waste, chemical waste, throw it in there. In fact, 103 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: you know what, so anything you got in their daddy, 104 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 1: except for like radioactive material, you gotta you gotta swine 105 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:29,559 Speaker 1: flu outbreak. Take those pig carcasses. You throw them into 106 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: the gasification chamber. There is no swine flu left. It 107 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: is totally gone. Or how about this, I'll bring it 108 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:39,920 Speaker 1: to your farm. I'll have a small one set up. 109 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:42,440 Speaker 1: You gotta swine flu outbreak. I'll come to your farm 110 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: and I'll burn up all those nasty pigs. You've got 111 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 1: some toxic waste, Oh well, we'll just burn that in 112 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 1: a gasification chamber and we'll break it down to its 113 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:56,920 Speaker 1: innert components. It's not gonna hurt anybody no more, little lamb. 114 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 1: I guess we keep saying burn. Well, it's really tough 115 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:06,080 Speaker 1: not to. Yes, you see torch torch? Yeah? Nice? All right, 116 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 1: So let's talk Strickland wrote this, Jonathan Strickland of Tech Stuff, 117 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: and he did a great job and he seemed to 118 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: be as excited about it as we are when he 119 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 1: was writing it, because how can you not be. Uh, 120 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 1: let's talk about some of the parts of these things. 121 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: The first thing that he points out that we should 122 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: point out is that um any plasma conversion gasification facility 123 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: is going to be unique to its own needs. They're 124 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:38,280 Speaker 1: all custom built at this point. There's no standardized unit. 125 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:41,959 Speaker 1: There are some companies that are starting to, like Westinghouse 126 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: has some that you can just like what amounts to 127 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:49,280 Speaker 1: off the shelf the backyard gasifier pretty much. Yeah, I 128 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 1: think they have like three different models, although I'm sure 129 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:53,600 Speaker 1: they will custom build you whatever you want and you're 130 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 1: probably right. Uh but any rate, when he wrote this, 131 00:08:57,160 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 1: they weren't super standardized. And that's good that we're going towards. 132 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:02,440 Speaker 1: But um so, what we're gonna talk about it, you know, 133 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:05,839 Speaker 1: sort of depends on the system. But what you're probably 134 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 1: gonna have is conveyor belt that's gonna move the garbage 135 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:12,360 Speaker 1: into the converter. Yeah, it's gonna play that Bugs Bunny 136 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:17,599 Speaker 1: Powerhouse song. Oh man. Sometimes they will pre treat the 137 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:19,959 Speaker 1: stuff like, although you could, if you had a big 138 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:23,600 Speaker 1: enough um machine, you could throw an entire car in it, 139 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:26,440 Speaker 1: let's say, Yeah, but sometimes it's more efficient to break 140 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:28,760 Speaker 1: that car down and have a pile of tires and 141 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:32,040 Speaker 1: a pile of scrap metal and break it down to 142 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:34,080 Speaker 1: its components, just to make it more efficient. Yeah, because 143 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:35,960 Speaker 1: it's gonna use a lot less energy to break it 144 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,720 Speaker 1: down into smaller parts and then feed it into the 145 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:44,240 Speaker 1: the plasma torch incenterator. Then it will to just torch 146 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:47,280 Speaker 1: it with the torch because these things use a lot 147 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:50,959 Speaker 1: of energy. Yeah, a lot of energy. They probably saved 148 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:53,080 Speaker 1: that for when the investors come by right there, like, 149 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:57,880 Speaker 1: watch you now you see it? Now you don't, uh, 150 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: you have your furnace of course, and Strickland says, this 151 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:04,599 Speaker 1: is where the magic happens um because you don't need oxygen. 152 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 1: It is air locked and airtight. Um junk goes in, 153 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:13,079 Speaker 1: but the heat doesn't escape into the atmosphere or the 154 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: gases or the byproducts, which again that is really saying 155 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:19,959 Speaker 1: something about the material science that's gone into this. Because 156 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,200 Speaker 1: these things are burning at like or heated to six 157 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:29,400 Speaker 1: thousand degrees Fahrenheigh again celsius, like the temperature of the sun. Yeah, 158 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:33,239 Speaker 1: in this little in this canister right here. It's amazing. 159 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: I'm surprising about plasma weapons for real. I think it's 160 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:39,200 Speaker 1: really great that they don't. I looked into it. It's 161 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:41,720 Speaker 1: like the realm of video games of course, like plasma 162 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 1: guns and stuff. Uh So, if you have a furnace, 163 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:48,440 Speaker 1: which you will, you're gonna have the plasma torch which 164 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:51,480 Speaker 1: is in the lower like half of the furnace, let's say. 165 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:54,520 Speaker 1: And they're also gonna have some drainage for that slag 166 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:57,440 Speaker 1: and some venting for the gas, and it's going to 167 00:10:57,440 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: be water cooled. Yeah. One of the things that came 168 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,800 Speaker 1: across to me and this researching this is these things 169 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:07,840 Speaker 1: frequently have like really elegant designs. Right. So, like you 170 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:09,760 Speaker 1: have a drain for the slag, which again is the 171 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:13,160 Speaker 1: molten metal that's broken down to like it's constituent parts. 172 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:16,840 Speaker 1: It's inorganic material and depending on how you treat it 173 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:21,719 Speaker 1: will turn into glass or sand or nodules, right yeah. Um, 174 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:24,760 Speaker 1: And then you have the gas going up, but you 175 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:27,640 Speaker 1: also and you're draining off the slag, but you're also 176 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:30,760 Speaker 1: keeping some in because it forms basically a coke bed 177 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:34,640 Speaker 1: that keeps the furnace hot, which means you have to 178 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:38,400 Speaker 1: use less energy in your in your plasma torch, just 179 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:41,520 Speaker 1: like having your own little lava bed, right just sort 180 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:45,079 Speaker 1: of sitting there. So that's pretty cool, But eventually you're 181 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:47,200 Speaker 1: gonna probably want to get some of the slag out 182 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:48,840 Speaker 1: of there because you're gonna do cool things with it, 183 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:52,600 Speaker 1: which we'll talk about later. The plasma torches themselves are clever, 184 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:59,560 Speaker 1: amazing little instruments. It's basically a uh it's a lightning creator. 185 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:03,800 Speaker 1: Like they use an electrical arc. They push usually just 186 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:07,240 Speaker 1: plain old air through it so that this electric charge 187 00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:10,680 Speaker 1: heats the air to these six thousand degrees, turns it 188 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:14,720 Speaker 1: into plasma and then that's what's directed into the furnace. 189 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:18,160 Speaker 1: It is very crazy, but that's that's what they're doing 190 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 1: with a little water cooled torch that that gets super hot, 191 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:26,440 Speaker 1: also doesn't use any kind of oxygen for combustion, right. 192 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:30,199 Speaker 1: And also these things you want to turn me on 193 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:34,480 Speaker 1: with electrical stuff is show me a system that powers itself, 194 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 1: right that I just love that more than anything. And 195 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:41,960 Speaker 1: these facilities, um, I mean they've got they've got excess 196 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:45,200 Speaker 1: energy to spare afterwards. Not only can they power themselves 197 00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:48,920 Speaker 1: in a lot of cases, they're selling uh back to 198 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:52,080 Speaker 1: the grid. So once you've got this initial input where 199 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:54,480 Speaker 1: you get this thing going online and you heat that 200 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:57,440 Speaker 1: plasma torch up for the first time, the moment you 201 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:01,199 Speaker 1: start feeding feedstock into it, which in this cases garbage 202 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:04,199 Speaker 1: plain old municipal solid waste from the land back to 203 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:07,680 Speaker 1: the future. Right, um, Right, when you start feeding that, 204 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:10,640 Speaker 1: it starts to produce energy. And the way that it 205 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:15,120 Speaker 1: does that that gas that escapes. Sing gas. Let's talk 206 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:19,600 Speaker 1: about sing gas. Dude. Sincas is a beautiful, amazing, elegant thing. 207 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:24,840 Speaker 1: It has, it's combustible and it's untreated form, so you 208 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:27,160 Speaker 1: could use it to burn like natural gas, although it 209 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,240 Speaker 1: has about half the energy density of natural gas. But 210 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:35,000 Speaker 1: if you're burning um garbage, it's just basically free natural gas. 211 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,880 Speaker 1: The byproduct you can also treat it and scrub it 212 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:41,600 Speaker 1: and just release it into the atmosphere is innert gas. 213 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:46,240 Speaker 1: No problems with that water water scrubbed, right, But when 214 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:52,280 Speaker 1: the sing gas exits the furnace, it's it wants to expand. 215 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:55,160 Speaker 1: So if you're a very clever engineer, you'll put what's 216 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,320 Speaker 1: called the gas turbine right there, and gas turbine is 217 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:01,840 Speaker 1: spun by expand in the gas. Well, you got plenty 218 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 1: of that stuff, right, So you've got the sing gas 219 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:06,760 Speaker 1: going through the gas turbine spinning that so it's a 220 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:10,360 Speaker 1: generating electricity. It's also very hot, so once it goes 221 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:13,360 Speaker 1: through that gas turbine, it can be caught by what's 222 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:17,200 Speaker 1: called a heat recovery steam generator, right, and that's just 223 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:19,680 Speaker 1: got some water going through and it uses hot, this 224 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:24,080 Speaker 1: hot heat gas to turn the water into steam. Well, 225 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:28,480 Speaker 1: that in turn turns another turbine. It generates even more electricity. 226 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:30,800 Speaker 1: And then at the end, before you even treat it, 227 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:32,920 Speaker 1: you have all the sing gas that could be used 228 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:37,120 Speaker 1: to fuel a combustion engine to generate even more electricity, 229 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:41,200 Speaker 1: all from burning garbage. All right, we have to take 230 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:43,320 Speaker 1: a break because I have the peel josh off the 231 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:47,720 Speaker 1: ceiling because you're so excited about sin gas. All right, 232 00:14:47,800 --> 00:15:13,800 Speaker 1: we'll be back in a second. How you feeling, buddy, 233 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:18,000 Speaker 1: He okay, I'm so excited. This might as well be 234 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:20,680 Speaker 1: ocean currents. Oh yeah, you like that one too high. 235 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:23,760 Speaker 1: All right, so we're talking about sin gas. You need 236 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,080 Speaker 1: to scrub it with water. They passes through a spray 237 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:30,080 Speaker 1: of water. You're actually cleaning gas, which is pretty interesting 238 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:32,720 Speaker 1: as a concept. And then there are all measure of 239 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: filters afterward to remove acids and things like that which 240 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:43,720 Speaker 1: do form weird byproducts like salts and salts. It's pretty neat. 241 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:45,920 Speaker 1: If you run it through a base scrubber, it turns 242 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: into salts. But there again in like just go ahead, 243 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:51,680 Speaker 1: pick up a handful and eat it. See what happens. 244 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: Probably nothing. And if you use an afterburner, sometimes they'll 245 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 1: use a secondary burner, uh, which is actually just natural 246 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: gas aims I guess to finish the job. Maybe yeah, 247 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 1: to burn off like any particulate matter in the gas, 248 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: like if the if the the process didn't the sing 249 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:16,200 Speaker 1: gas isn't like pure this This basically burns off particular matter. 250 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:18,760 Speaker 1: Or you can scrub it too, And if you're doing 251 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:20,920 Speaker 1: all this, you're probably just going to release it rather 252 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:23,280 Speaker 1: than try to trap it and use it for combustion 253 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:25,720 Speaker 1: if you're gonna scrub it. But you do need to 254 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:28,000 Speaker 1: scrub it, especially if you're gonna release in the atmosphere, 255 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:32,240 Speaker 1: because it does contain some pretty nasty stuff. Cabium, mercury, 256 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:36,200 Speaker 1: a lot of heavy metals, because remember what what this 257 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:40,800 Speaker 1: process does. The plasma torch and the gasification process breaks 258 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 1: these things down into the their constituent um atoms and 259 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:50,360 Speaker 1: molecules and heavy metals and and um some other things 260 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:53,120 Speaker 1: are not really good for us, even in their most 261 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: basic form. For the most part, it's gonna take something 262 00:16:56,040 --> 00:17:00,240 Speaker 1: that chemically speaking, was once a threat but have been 263 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 1: broken down to its separate, innocuous in our components. Some things, 264 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:06,680 Speaker 1: even when they're at their most basic level, are still 265 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:10,439 Speaker 1: dangerous to It's like cadmium, like mercury, like other heavy metals, 266 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: and these things do have to be taken out of 267 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:17,439 Speaker 1: the slag and or the sing gas and disposed of. 268 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 1: The thing is is, if you put a thousand tons 269 00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 1: of municipal solid waste into one of these furnaces, you're 270 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:30,080 Speaker 1: only going to get about twenty tons of that stuff. 271 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:34,000 Speaker 1: So so we will still need landfills or something like that, 272 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:37,320 Speaker 1: but it will just be for these very um dangerous 273 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:40,600 Speaker 1: chemicals are very dangerous, like heavy metals or something like that. 274 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:43,920 Speaker 1: But you still got great stuff out of the other 275 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:49,080 Speaker 1: nine eight tons. Yeah, exactly. So the byproducts we talked 276 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:52,720 Speaker 1: about the sing gash, The slag and the heat are 277 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,359 Speaker 1: all used or not always used, depends on what you're 278 00:17:55,359 --> 00:17:57,400 Speaker 1: trying to do with your plant, but they can potentially 279 00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 1: all be used. And the slag, I think you already 280 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:04,520 Speaker 1: said you're getting. So that means the weight of your 281 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:08,879 Speaker 1: resulting slag is only of what you started with. So 282 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:13,760 Speaker 1: you took that buick, uh, and it now weighs what 283 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:16,080 Speaker 1: it formally weighed. Right, you could pick it up if 284 00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:19,159 Speaker 1: you want. Yeah, maybe so, probably should wait for it 285 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:22,120 Speaker 1: to cool down. And the volume is only about five 286 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:25,560 Speaker 1: percent of the original waste volume. Uh. And like you said, 287 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:27,919 Speaker 1: it looks like volcanic glass. And they can use it 288 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:31,879 Speaker 1: in asphalt and concrete. They can pour it directly into 289 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:35,520 Speaker 1: molds and make paper stones. And it's all of a sudden, 290 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 1: it's a it's a it's something that you would find 291 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:41,760 Speaker 1: at your Big Bucks hardware store for your garden, which 292 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:45,640 Speaker 1: is pretty amazing. Another um potential creation that you can 293 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:48,520 Speaker 1: use slag for is to turn into rock wall. Man, 294 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:51,360 Speaker 1: I love this stuff right like, so, as this molten 295 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:53,840 Speaker 1: slag is coming out, if you expose it to compressed 296 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:58,119 Speaker 1: air blasts, it turns into this thready very light but 297 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:03,040 Speaker 1: also very strong wool material like gray cotton candy is 298 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 1: how um how Strickland puts it. And there's a lot 299 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:09,200 Speaker 1: of uses for it, like you can use in hydroponics. 300 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: It's a it's a growing medium. Um. You can also 301 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:16,919 Speaker 1: use it as insulation. Apparently it has twice the insulating 302 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:22,280 Speaker 1: properties of um fibery lass. Amazing. Yeah, it is um 303 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,119 Speaker 1: and you can also use the clean up oil spills. 304 00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:27,200 Speaker 1: That says, Yeah, this is the one that really gets 305 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:29,240 Speaker 1: me going. It's lighter than water, so you can just 306 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:31,720 Speaker 1: throw it on water and it'll sit there and it's 307 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:37,159 Speaker 1: super absorbent, so it'll basically what they'll probably do is 308 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:40,639 Speaker 1: contain it in something like a tube or something and 309 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:43,480 Speaker 1: then just throw that tube in a big circle around 310 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:46,080 Speaker 1: an oil spill. It'll float on the water soak up 311 00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:48,480 Speaker 1: the oil um and then you just go back and 312 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:52,359 Speaker 1: scoop up the Rockwell, yeah, I guess. So I had 313 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 1: a friend that used to work and um, I need 314 00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:57,440 Speaker 1: to look that up and him up actually, because I 315 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 1: don't know where it went. But they were using banana 316 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:04,400 Speaker 1: fibers to do the same thing to clean up oil spills. 317 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:07,440 Speaker 1: Didn't we do one on oil spills and like your 318 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,800 Speaker 1: friend you emailed with them or something like that about it. 319 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:12,720 Speaker 1: I don't know, I feel like we did. It seems 320 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 1: like the distant past. But here's the cool thing about 321 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:19,560 Speaker 1: the the rock will. They currently use it. It's not 322 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:22,040 Speaker 1: just something that you can only get as a byproduct 323 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:27,200 Speaker 1: of creating the sin gas. It is produced by mining rocks. 324 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:29,840 Speaker 1: You melt it down and then spin it sort of 325 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:32,400 Speaker 1: like cotton candy, like you said, in a big machine. 326 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:36,800 Speaker 1: And here's the cool thing about the gasification though, the 327 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:39,440 Speaker 1: way they make the rock will. Now it's about ten 328 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:43,480 Speaker 1: cents I'm sorry about a dollar a pound as a byproduct. 329 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:45,680 Speaker 1: It could be sold for ten cents a pound. Plus 330 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,479 Speaker 1: you don't have all of them. The disturbances in the 331 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 1: earth of mining rocks turning to rock will. It's a 332 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:56,600 Speaker 1: byproduct of garbage that you're burning. That's great, it's amazing. 333 00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:01,000 Speaker 1: This is like when when when when when wind wind wind, 334 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 1: the slag is not leachable. That's another cool thing that 335 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,199 Speaker 1: I found too. So Strickland specifically said you can't do 336 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:12,280 Speaker 1: this with radioactive material. I have seen that you can. Yeah, 337 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:15,960 Speaker 1: And what you can do is it'll turn it into 338 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:20,440 Speaker 1: the slag. The subsidian glass, and while it's still radioactive, 339 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:23,640 Speaker 1: it's not going anywhere. It's not going to leach out 340 00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:26,640 Speaker 1: into the soil, and it shall. It should be stable 341 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:31,040 Speaker 1: like this for thousands of years, conceivably until the radioactivity 342 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:34,080 Speaker 1: is not harmful the humans any longer. It would be 343 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:36,120 Speaker 1: a really great you can just turn it into these 344 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:41,000 Speaker 1: radioactive paver stones that, yeah, that might even glow at night. 345 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,720 Speaker 1: You'd have a nice little path in your backyard and 346 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:47,400 Speaker 1: it'll glow. There's actually glass like that. I can't remember 347 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:52,000 Speaker 1: what it's technical term is, but in the mid twentieth 348 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:55,680 Speaker 1: century there was a big trend for radio They called 349 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:59,480 Speaker 1: it vasoline glass because it glowed about the color of vasoline, 350 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:02,280 Speaker 1: which is we heard. But you can find cut glass 351 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:05,040 Speaker 1: like ash trays and sculptures that glow, and the reason 352 00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:08,320 Speaker 1: they glow because they're radioactive. I think, I know what 353 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:10,639 Speaker 1: you're talking about, really neat looking. But it's also like, 354 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:12,520 Speaker 1: I don't know if that should be in my home. 355 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:18,639 Speaker 1: I'd light your own cigarette hold it against All right, Uh, well, 356 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:21,240 Speaker 1: let's take another break here and we'll talk about where 357 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:24,040 Speaker 1: we are now and where we could be headed with gasification. 358 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,240 Speaker 1: All right, So here's what I found, and this might 359 00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:54,359 Speaker 1: not even be current. What I saw was that they're 360 00:22:54,600 --> 00:23:01,960 Speaker 1: currently eight functioning plasma gasification facilities in the world. That's 361 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,760 Speaker 1: that sounds about right. One in Taiwan, when in Japan, 362 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:06,960 Speaker 1: one in Canada, when in England, one here in the USA. 363 00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:11,119 Speaker 1: Where's the one in the US? Uh think Vero Beach, Florida. 364 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:14,359 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, um, one in India, one in China. And 365 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:18,480 Speaker 1: get this one, there's one on an aircraft carrier net 366 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:22,840 Speaker 1: that the US is using. The idea is that it's 367 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:26,560 Speaker 1: a little small unit that basically just treats the on 368 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:31,840 Speaker 1: board waste. So they envisioned the future where like cruise 369 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:34,960 Speaker 1: ships have these things and then you just dump all 370 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,639 Speaker 1: their garbage in the Ocean's exactly. You treat all the waste, 371 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:41,320 Speaker 1: and I guess they could even sell by products that 372 00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:45,960 Speaker 1: they wanted to. Pretty cool. There's one that's supposedly going. 373 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:49,639 Speaker 1: I know you saw it was mothballed, right, But there's 374 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:52,879 Speaker 1: one that's playing. They have like all the I guess 375 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:57,480 Speaker 1: them licenses and certifications that they need to build one 376 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:01,719 Speaker 1: in Port St. Lucy, Florida, and it's supposedly it started 377 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 1: out um as it was going to take on a 378 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:09,480 Speaker 1: thousand tons of garbage a day and put out UM. Third, 379 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:14,040 Speaker 1: it was gonna generate sixty seven megawatt hours a day 380 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:18,120 Speaker 1: and sell thirty three of that, so it would completely 381 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:21,960 Speaker 1: power its own operations and still have thirty three megawatt 382 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:24,639 Speaker 1: hours to put out, like to sell back to the grid. 383 00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:27,920 Speaker 1: It's just more money that this thing is making, right. UM. 384 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:30,159 Speaker 1: What I saw is that, and I think it was 385 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 1: like two thousand fourteen UM. It said that it was 386 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,640 Speaker 1: gonna be about six of that, so it would take 387 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:39,960 Speaker 1: in about six hundred tons of garbage and generate a 388 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:45,680 Speaker 1: total output of twenty two megawatts UM. But yeah, I 389 00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:48,399 Speaker 1: don't know if it's coming or not. But either way, 390 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:50,840 Speaker 1: the thing that got me about this one, chuck was 391 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:55,879 Speaker 1: that they planned to not just accept landfill waste, but 392 00:24:56,080 --> 00:25:00,240 Speaker 1: to go out and mind existing landfills and use those things. 393 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:03,119 Speaker 1: It's feed stock. And in fact, there was one in 394 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:08,840 Speaker 1: um Uhashinai, Japan that closed down because they ran out 395 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,600 Speaker 1: of feedstock. They burned through all the garbage. Wow. Yeah, 396 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:15,760 Speaker 1: that's pretty great. When you're out of garbage exactly, they 397 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:19,720 Speaker 1: have to go get more garbage. We'll stop earlier this year, 398 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:23,159 Speaker 1: I think. Um. The world's largest plant. Um is. They 399 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:24,959 Speaker 1: said it was near completion in May, so it may 400 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 1: be done at this point. But a company called air 401 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:33,840 Speaker 1: Products um began processing three and fifty thousand tons at 402 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:39,240 Speaker 1: this facility, creating power. Wow. Wait during fifty tons, Yeah, 403 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:44,840 Speaker 1: I said enough power for homes and uh, fifty full 404 00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:48,240 Speaker 1: time jobs, which is not that many, not for that much, 405 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: but no, which is highly automated, I would guess, yeah, 406 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:53,399 Speaker 1: which is sort of good in a way. Um, but 407 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:56,040 Speaker 1: I guess you'd want more jobs created to this is 408 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:59,399 Speaker 1: sort of a balancing acting cats. Uh. And it cost 409 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:04,240 Speaker 1: half a billion million dollars um and that is one 410 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,600 Speaker 1: of the that's one of the stumbling blocks along the way. 411 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,320 Speaker 1: Strickland points out that anytime you have a new technology, 412 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:13,560 Speaker 1: it's gonna be super expensive to get going. And everyone's 413 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,360 Speaker 1: dug in on the landfill and how we're doing things now, 414 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,520 Speaker 1: so it's gonna take a lot. It'll get cheaper over time, 415 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:23,160 Speaker 1: like everything else. That's a new new way of doing things. 416 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:27,760 Speaker 1: And you also have to win over the establishment with 417 00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:30,280 Speaker 1: with dollars. You have to show them why it'll be 418 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:34,000 Speaker 1: better for them financially. Well. Yeah. Also, if if say 419 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:37,240 Speaker 1: a municipality is kind of like, well, we're not gonna 420 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:39,680 Speaker 1: close down the landfill, but if you guys want to 421 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:43,480 Speaker 1: open one, go ahead. Well, then you have a plasma 422 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:48,280 Speaker 1: waste treatment facility and a landfill in direct competition. And 423 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,080 Speaker 1: if you are their customer, meaning you have some garbage 424 00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:53,359 Speaker 1: that you want to take, you don't care where your 425 00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:55,879 Speaker 1: garbage is going, probably you want to go to whoever 426 00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:59,639 Speaker 1: has the cheaper fees for accepting that garbage. Yeah, because 427 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,919 Speaker 1: a landfill is kind of an expensive proposition there, tipping 428 00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:05,920 Speaker 1: fees are going to be high. It's basically the only 429 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,680 Speaker 1: way they can make money by charging people to deposit 430 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:13,800 Speaker 1: their garbage with a plasma waste treatment facility. They're making 431 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:18,320 Speaker 1: money all over the place. They're selling slag as paper stuff, 432 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:21,840 Speaker 1: they're selling rockwell to clean up oil spills, they're selling 433 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:24,920 Speaker 1: electricity back to the grid. So they're making money in 434 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:27,400 Speaker 1: all these other ways that can pay for the operation 435 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:29,720 Speaker 1: and generate a profit so they could keep their tipping 436 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:32,560 Speaker 1: fees low. So if you own a landfill and somebody 437 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:35,640 Speaker 1: opens a plasma waste stream of facility in the same city, 438 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: do you may be in a bit of trouble business wise. Yeah, 439 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,919 Speaker 1: keep the tipping feel low and uh, and not just 440 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:46,240 Speaker 1: people like municipalities will begin using your services ultimately, because 441 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 1: I think the one thing that's lacking still is that 442 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:53,320 Speaker 1: environmental will. And we're definitely a lot further along than 443 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,440 Speaker 1: we were when Strickland wrote this article. But I think 444 00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:58,000 Speaker 1: that that that's one of the things that makes it 445 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: so attractive is we're gonna earn your garbage and really 446 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: really green sustainable ways create energy from it. And we're 447 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:09,880 Speaker 1: gonna go get your old garbage and burn that too, yeah, 448 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:12,560 Speaker 1: and make even more electricity and the plant's gonna power 449 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:16,480 Speaker 1: itself with your garbage. It's it's a win win, win, 450 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:23,280 Speaker 1: win win. So Strickland interviewed, um he was from Georgia Tech, right, 451 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:29,080 Speaker 1: a doctor Cisero. I'm sorry Cerco Cercio. Oh, I thought 452 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:33,040 Speaker 1: it was Cistero too. Yeah, it's a mine trick are 453 00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:37,520 Speaker 1: before see um So, Dr Sercio said he envisions a 454 00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:41,520 Speaker 1: future where you don't just have like the big municipality plant, 455 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:45,160 Speaker 1: like that'd be great and all. Maybe you could bring 456 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:49,320 Speaker 1: a plasma torch to a landfill and just bore a 457 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 1: hole through it and stick that plasma torch in there, 458 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:54,800 Speaker 1: cap it off and start burning that junk from the 459 00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:57,640 Speaker 1: inside out. Yeah, but I feel like, well, whoa, there 460 00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:00,680 Speaker 1: could be a coal steam nearby? What about That's what 461 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:06,680 Speaker 1: I thought? What about? Like, uh, what Centralia, Pennsylvania. Right, Centralia, 462 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:12,160 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania caught fire. There's a combustion fire going on. If 463 00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:15,360 Speaker 1: any coal steam was exposed to this, it would it 464 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 1: would just be decomposed into carbon into its constituents. It 465 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 1: wouldn't catch fire. That's nothing to do with this again. 466 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:26,320 Speaker 1: So it's actually extremely safe and the landfill itself would 467 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:30,240 Speaker 1: act as the furnace. That's amazing, isn't it. Like it's 468 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:34,840 Speaker 1: really tough to think of really intense heat without thinking fire. 469 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:40,120 Speaker 1: But that that is not where this goes. Yeah uh 470 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:49,240 Speaker 1: or Dr Sir Sero Cercio CEO says, hey, why not 471 00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:54,240 Speaker 1: work together here and bring a plasma converter to another 472 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:58,040 Speaker 1: existing traditional facility where they can work hand in hand, 473 00:29:58,160 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 1: like a coal fire power plant. Yeah, I want to. 474 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:02,840 Speaker 1: So what this would do is you would just basically 475 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:07,720 Speaker 1: stick a plasma facility onto it into the existing infrastructure 476 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:11,520 Speaker 1: and just accept garbage in there and burn that and everything, 477 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:14,440 Speaker 1: and then the sing gas that's created would be used 478 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:18,400 Speaker 1: to help fire the coal fire. Plants. Then it would 479 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:21,080 Speaker 1: be used for combustion, right, and you would be using 480 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:24,200 Speaker 1: less coal or less fossil fuels to UM do the 481 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 1: same thing to create steam to spin the turbine, because 482 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:30,240 Speaker 1: ultimately that's what it all comes down to with electricity. 483 00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:34,600 Speaker 1: So if you have a UM a green way to 484 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:37,680 Speaker 1: supplement this stuff, all you're doing is using less fossil 485 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:41,360 Speaker 1: fuel too. It's also way cheaper because then you're not 486 00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:44,720 Speaker 1: having to treat the sin gas, which apparently is half 487 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:48,920 Speaker 1: the cost of a plasma treatment facility because these guys 488 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:52,080 Speaker 1: have to treat the escaping smoke and everything anyway. So 489 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:55,240 Speaker 1: all you're doing is adding actually a cleaner UM, a 490 00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:58,640 Speaker 1: cleaner fuel into the fire. It's going to ultimately be 491 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:02,480 Speaker 1: cleaned down the line. Amazing. And then we talked about 492 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:06,520 Speaker 1: UM sort of half joking, but they're serious about decontamination. 493 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:09,480 Speaker 1: You know, if you have an outbreak on your farm 494 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:12,640 Speaker 1: and you have a bunch of you know, sad, but 495 00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:16,200 Speaker 1: if you have a bunch of sick, disease dead livestock, 496 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:21,720 Speaker 1: just bring out the h the P three thousand, throw 497 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:25,280 Speaker 1: those cows in there bing bang boom. Yeah, maybe grind 498 00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:28,960 Speaker 1: them up first two? Yeah, why not? UM, yeah, and 499 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:31,560 Speaker 1: you can do that with soil as well. Contaminated soil. 500 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:33,960 Speaker 1: Got an e. Col Ii outbreak in your spinach field? 501 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:38,240 Speaker 1: Not anymore? Yeah, a bunch of dirty humans not anymore, 502 00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:41,800 Speaker 1: storm in their medical waste to bio hazard. Nope, you've 503 00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 1: got inert stuff. Ye, poopy cruise ship the P three 504 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:50,160 Speaker 1: in there at once. I'm kidding about dirty humans. By 505 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:52,520 Speaker 1: the way, I didn't even need to say that. I 506 00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:57,000 Speaker 1: don't think so. Okay, good, I hope not. You never know, buddy. 507 00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:01,760 Speaker 1: So that is plasma waste tree meant hopefully the wave 508 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,200 Speaker 1: of the future. Yeah, we should title this something a 509 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:06,880 Speaker 1: little sexier so people aren't like, yeah, there's a lot 510 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:11,200 Speaker 1: of people, because it should Yeah, because then like even 511 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:14,640 Speaker 1: people that are super into like green technologies will probably 512 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:17,800 Speaker 1: be like, I want to learn about this weird science thing. Yeah, 513 00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:24,400 Speaker 1: how about plasma waste treatment? Please listen, Signed Josh and Chuck. Yeah, 514 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:26,520 Speaker 1: I like it. It's a little clumsy, will work on it. 515 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:30,160 Speaker 1: If you want to know more about plasma treatment facilities 516 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:32,800 Speaker 1: or any of that stuff, you can type those words 517 00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:35,040 Speaker 1: in the search bar at how stuff works dot com. 518 00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:38,600 Speaker 1: And since Chuck said sexy, it's time for listener mail 519 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:45,360 Speaker 1: I'm gonna call this you guys got Africa right. Thank you, Hey, guys, 520 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:47,200 Speaker 1: listen to your podcast about female puberty, and it was 521 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 1: very impressed with the thoughtfulness and sensitivity in which you 522 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:53,960 Speaker 1: explain things and gave advice. Um. By the way, we 523 00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:57,000 Speaker 1: heard from a lot of people on that, and thank you, 524 00:32:57,840 --> 00:32:59,480 Speaker 1: a lot of young women, a lot of grown women, 525 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:02,640 Speaker 1: a lot of men and dad's uh. And that one 526 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:04,160 Speaker 1: meant a lot. It was really good to get that 527 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:06,680 Speaker 1: one right. I think, Um. The one thing that we 528 00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:09,800 Speaker 1: didn't quite get right that someone has pointed out more 529 00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:13,280 Speaker 1: than a few times is, uh, we said boy crazy 530 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:14,680 Speaker 1: a lot, and we should have gone out of our 531 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:17,440 Speaker 1: way to say, like, you know, you might also be 532 00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:21,640 Speaker 1: girl crazy, or you might not have sexual feelings and thoughts. 533 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:23,920 Speaker 1: I wish we had that one back. I know. That's 534 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:26,440 Speaker 1: you know, I'm giving us a break on that because 535 00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:29,200 Speaker 1: we people know how we feel about that stuff. We 536 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:31,600 Speaker 1: just didn't pointed out as strong as we should have. 537 00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:34,840 Speaker 1: But that's I mean, that's how things change and improve 538 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:37,840 Speaker 1: those you know what we're saying that now, young young 539 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:41,040 Speaker 1: ladies out there going through puberty might like other girls. 540 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:44,240 Speaker 1: You might not like boys or girls. Uh, And all 541 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:47,680 Speaker 1: that's okay too, Yes, all right, thanks for saying that. 542 00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 1: So back to this, Probably listen to about two hundred 543 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:52,239 Speaker 1: or more of your podcasts. Man, you get a long 544 00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:54,800 Speaker 1: way to go, buddy, uh. And I'm always like, I'm 545 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,680 Speaker 1: almost a three oh one, yeah, only five after that. 546 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:00,800 Speaker 1: I'm always happy to are you guys, are your best 547 00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:03,280 Speaker 1: to be specific when you make references to events in 548 00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:07,080 Speaker 1: countries or geographic regions. What I mean by this is 549 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:09,080 Speaker 1: you don't generalize like a lot of people do and 550 00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:12,640 Speaker 1: say crap, like in Africa they blah blah blah, or 551 00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:15,960 Speaker 1: in Europe it's normal to blah blah blah. When you 552 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:17,480 Speaker 1: got to the part of your latest show where you 553 00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,040 Speaker 1: talk about female puberty rights, I was elated to hear 554 00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:22,680 Speaker 1: you being careful not to say in Ghana, there is 555 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:25,840 Speaker 1: a village where dot dot dot. The reason for my 556 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:28,040 Speaker 1: reaction is that I've lived in the US for twenty years, 557 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:30,960 Speaker 1: but I'm from Ghana. There at least twenty distinct ethnic 558 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:33,640 Speaker 1: groups and languages in Ghana alone, and I know for 559 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:35,520 Speaker 1: a fact that the ritual you described is not done 560 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:37,440 Speaker 1: in all of them. In fact, I've heard of it, 561 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:39,879 Speaker 1: but I don't think it happens anymore. By the way, 562 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:42,680 Speaker 1: the official language in Ghana is English, so we are 563 00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:46,880 Speaker 1: able to communicate with each other. Nothing irritates US Africans 564 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:51,960 Speaker 1: more than to hear someone started sentence within Africa. I 565 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:56,399 Speaker 1: bet it's continent that huge, because no one says well 566 00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:59,239 Speaker 1: in North America. No that they do say like in 567 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:03,800 Speaker 1: the US. But it's a confederation of like associated states 568 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:06,399 Speaker 1: in Africa. It's like, yeah, you're you're putting the whole 569 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:09,040 Speaker 1: continent and it's all these different countries with all these 570 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:12,600 Speaker 1: different cultures. Yeah, it's amazing. So thanks guys for being 571 00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:16,919 Speaker 1: the thoughtful and professional. Eric from Seattle by way of gone, 572 00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:20,439 Speaker 1: I guess yeah, thanks a lot er appreciate that. Thank 573 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:23,440 Speaker 1: you Greedy. If you want to get in touch with this, 574 00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:27,560 Speaker 1: whether to give us big ups or pooh pooh us 575 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:33,200 Speaker 1: or um submit some sort of neutral statement that's fact based, 576 00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:36,560 Speaker 1: who knows a lot. Yeah, you can tweet to us 577 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:39,040 Speaker 1: at s y s K podcast. You can join us 578 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:41,719 Speaker 1: on Facebook, dot com, slash Stuff you Should Know. You 579 00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,000 Speaker 1: can send us an email to Stuff Podcast at how 580 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:46,680 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com, and as always, joined us at 581 00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:52,480 Speaker 1: our home on the web, Stuff you Should Know dot Com. 582 00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:54,319 Speaker 1: Stuff You Should Know is a production of I Heart 583 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:57,080 Speaker 1: Radio for more podcasts for my heart Radio because at 584 00:35:57,080 --> 00:35:59,759 Speaker 1: the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 585 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:08,040 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows. H