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