WEBVTT - How Plasma Torches Work 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.960 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.959 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:17.919 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:20.320 and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette, 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:22.360 and I am an editor here at how stuff works 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:25.360 dot com. Sitting across from me, as he always does, 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:29.200 is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. He who holds the spice 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:36.360 controls the galaxy. Oh Dune. Yeah, there you go. Nice 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:40.800 that that and we're done today. We're going to talk 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:47.920 about something that's inspired by a little listener mail. This 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:51.240 listener mail comes from Damon. Damon says, I was just 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:53.840 wondering how plasma cutter works. Is it something to do 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:57.680 with electricity? Yours truly, Damon, Damon. That was very nice 0:00:57.960 --> 0:00:59.960 and short and to the point. So we're going to 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:05.160 answer your question. Yes, we're gonna go into more detailed 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:07.440 than just the fact that yes, it does use electricity. 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:12.679 So plasma cutters are a it's just one um one 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:16.960 use for a plasma torch, and a plasma torch is 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:22.720 a device that uses a usually an inert gas uh 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:26.920 pressurized pushed through a nozzle and at the nozzle, there's 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:31.039 an electrode that's shooting off pretty powerful electricity, which turns 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:34.120 the gas into what is called the fourth state of 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:37.280 matter plasma. Oh wait, no, here in my notes and 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:40.920 says there are five states and manners solid liquid, gas, 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:43.960 plasma and New Hampshire. Well there you go. That's the 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:51.640 fourth state, the fifth state matter. Oh my gosh, you 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.800 get to answer that, listener mail, that's what you have 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:59.800 just earned for yourself, matter in New Hampshire. Moving on, 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:03.360 So plasma. Plasma is an ionized gas. We've talked about 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:05.559 it before on this podcast because it does factor into 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:09.160 other technologies. But it's a it's a gas that has 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:13.200 free roaming electrons, which means that it conducts electricity. Um. 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:19.520 It also can quote unquote burn really really hot. Yes, 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:21.600 as a matter of fact, hotter than the surface of 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:25.399 the sun. Yes, we're talking like six thousand degrees celsius. 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:31.120 That's um. That's pretty toasty. And uh, the it turns 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:33.840 out this is really really handy for things like cutting 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.840 through material or um. We're going to get into a 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:39.840 really cool application in a minute about how you can 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:45.000 use a plasma torch to turn garbage into energy. Yes, 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:48.919 but let's start's start off slow here. Um, So you're 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:53.120 using this ionized gas. It's burning at this really high temperature. 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:55.760 It actually breaks stuff down in a process that we 0:02:55.800 --> 0:03:00.440 call molecular dissociation, which literally means that it's starts to 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:03.400 break down the molecules because the energy that they absorb 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.720 is so great the molecular bonds can no longer hold, right, 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:10.280 so it comes apart, right because normally there is a 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.760 cloud of electrons uh, circling the nucleus of the atom. 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:18.320 And at that at that point, the electrons are more 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:21.880 loosely bound and sometimes split off, right, and you end 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:26.600 up with with much more basic particles as opposed to molecules. 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:29.880 And it doesn't use combustion, so that's not it's not 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:34.160 burning like a traditional torch. Uh. You know, a traditional torch, 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:39.080 you need a fuel, you need heat, and you need air, yeah, oxygen, 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:43.200 and you don't need oxygen for uh, for a plasma 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:46.960 torch to work. Um. And so it's it's using a 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:52.760 it's using heat in a process that we call pyrolysis. 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.560 All right, now this is when technically now this is 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.600 for organic manner, This is not for inorganic matter. Different 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:06.080 thing entirely right. So pyrolysis UH is a preceived process 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:09.640 in which organic matter breaks down and decomposes. Now when 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:15.040 you apply a plasma torch to organic matter, pyrolysis happens um, 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:21.720 let's say, on an accelerated basis, like practically instantaneous as 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:26.480 opposed to taking years and years and years UM. So 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.760 this means that plasma torches are very useful for lots 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:33.479 of different environments. For example, underwater, you could use a 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.279 plasma torch because again you're just shooting out gas and 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:40.320 you're injecting it with electrons essentially, So you could use 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:43.280 a plasma torch to cut through material underwater and not 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:45.080 have to worry about the fact that oxygen. You know, 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:47.679 you have a real hard time lighting a traditional torch 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.680 on the water um. And it's really good for cutting 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:54.200 through pretty much anything. I mean, at that temperature, it's 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:58.120 gonna managed to make its way through tons and tons 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:02.200 of different stuff. So we do find them very useful 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:06.080 in lots of different applications. And the one that I 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:08.920 really wanted to talk about, which really it goes beyond 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.479 the plasma cutters, which you know, that's interesting enough, but 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:15.920 I really wanted to talk about plasma waste converters. Okay, 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:18.080 do you want to just jump into that then sure, 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:20.200 Okay we can. I mean unless you had something more 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:22.920 to say specifically about plasma cutters. Well, no, I was 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:25.600 I was going to bring up when we started to 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:27.920 learn about them, because it really wasn't even all that 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:30.839 long ago during World War Two that they discovered that 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:34.080 this could be, that this could be possible. Um. Basically 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:36.960 what was going on was, uh, you know, the American 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:41.360 war effort required a lot of different kinds of machinery 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:44.960 to be fabricated very quickly, and they discovered this, uh, 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:49.679 this arc process that we've been describing basically by uh, 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.760 you know, just the techniques they were using then too. 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:56.239 They started off with you know, arc welding, and uh 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:58.920 they were able to uh they realized that you know, 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:02.280 charging the gas with the aren't made a barrier around 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:06.520 where the weld was UM, and it predicted it from oxidizing, 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:10.719 which is very useful. UM. And uh it also made 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:14.600 very very clean cuts, which is why they they're using 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:18.400 it for uh plasma torches or using plasma torches for 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:21.599 you know, cutting purposes. And then um, you know, in 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:25.040 the nineteen sixties. Basically what would happen is, uh they 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:28.600 realized that once you speed up the flow of gas 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:32.120 um and cutting down the size of the hole through 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:34.960 which it is being released, you could it would keep 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:39.680 higher temperatures than any other type of of welder. And um, 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:43.599 you know, that's exactly when they started cutting was because 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:47.800 you know, they discovered the properties of using this method 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:51.120 uh in in the welding process. But then once they 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.159 started experimenting with it some more and found out that 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:55.560 it makes it's awesome for cutting, and it can cut 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:58.960 through all kinds of different heavy duty metals that you 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:02.599 wouldn't be able to cut so finely using any other process, 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:05.840 and so simply really um so that's why it's so 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:08.159 so awesome for that. I just wanted to touch on 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:10.560 the history of it a little bit because, um, you know, 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:12.680 this is not something we've known about for you know, 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:15.520 a long time like some of the other technologies we 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:18.600 talk about. Sure, and it's only been a couple of 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:24.080 decades since someone thought to to apply it to waste management. Yeah, 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:28.480 that's even newer. So I'm sure you're all aware that 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:31.960 that waste management is a huge issue. You know, it's 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:35.320 it's a problem in a lot of different communities. We 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:39.600 talk about pollution, we talk about the the need to 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:44.040 create large landfills dumping sites. Then of course there are 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:46.680 the big dumping sites out in the ocean, so we 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:49.480 don't really like to think about, but they're out there. Um. 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:51.280 And we've you know, people have tried to come up 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:54.240 with lots of different ways of solving this problem, everything 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:56.400 from just cutting down the amount of waste we generate, 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:58.920 which you know, that's part of it, that's important, big 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:02.480 part of it. But but we're getting new people every day, 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:05.360 and even if you start cutting back the amount of 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:09.400 materials you're you're consuming, the number of people that are 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:13.520 added to the planet kind of makes that a very 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:17.040 slow process. I mean, eventually it all catches up to 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:21.000 you again. So there are other things you can look at, 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.240 like you know that people have tried to burn trash, 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:26.360 but of course that often will generate other kinds of pollution, 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:33.160 including pollutants that will eventually cause acid rain in the future. Um, 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:37.280 and that's clearly not good either. And then there are other, 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:41.200 you know, semi outlandish proposals like shooting it off into 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:44.480 space so that we you know, we stop polluting the Earth. 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:48.400 We'll just start polluting space everything else not Granted, space 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:52.840 is big, I mean really big for your stuff. There's 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:57.640 always space, and at any rate, assuming you don't want 0:08:57.679 --> 0:08:59.880 to just you know, find new places to throw st 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:01.520 of a way, you want to find a way of 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:06.520 getting rid of it. And that's where plasma waiste converters 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:09.280 come in. Now, a plasma waist converter has at its 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.719 heart a plasma torch. Yeah. Now the plasma torch is 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:16.560 inside a furnace. Uh. And inside that furnace, what you 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:19.960 do is you you dump garbage and there Uh. Normally 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:23.160 the garbage has to go through a process where it 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:27.160 gets crunched up into smaller bits first. But once it 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:31.520 goes into the furnace, the plasma torch causes it to 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:34.640 to transform. And there are two different transformations that happen 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:41.160 to the organic material. You have volatilization, also known as gasification. 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:45.760 The organic material gets turned into gases, synthetic gases or 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:50.439 sin gas, right, and then you've got the inorganic compounds. 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:53.600 So anything that's not carbon based, essentially is what you're 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:58.800 talking about here. Um, it becomes vitrified, turns into slag. 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:01.000 It kind of looks like law. When it's coming out 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:03.560 of a plasma waste converter, you know, it's a bright 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:09.720 reddish orange glowing liquid material and as it cools, it 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.480 becomes if you were to allow it to air cool, 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:17.160 it turns into this kind of hard, glassy, rocky substance. 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:21.280 It kind of looks like um, obsidian lava connection Again, Yeah, 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:24.360 it looks a lot like obsidian. So if you've ever 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.120 seen a volcanic rock, that's a lot like what the 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:31.400 the the cooled version of slag from a plasma waste 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.760 converter looks like and um. So that's so you've got 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:39.360 the volatilized material and the vitrified material. And uh, actually, 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.400 depending on how you cool that slag, it can turn 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:45.600 into many different formats. Like air cooled, it looks like 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.040 those little rocks like I was mentioning. If you cool 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:51.600 it with water, it turns into these little pebbles. So 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:54.559 they don't like it doesn't look like a little rock. 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:56.840 It doesn't like rocks is in you know, jagged edges 0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:59.120 or anything like that. It's just it's almost like a 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.960 fine sand. And then if you blow compressed air through it, 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.320 which I would not recommend anyone try to do if 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:07.720 they had somehow managed to build a plasma waist converter, 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:10.120 because it's scary to look at. I was I was 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:12.679 going to say, how many, just how many of our 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.439 listeners do you think actually have a plasma waste converter 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:18.120 in their backyard? You know? I mean, it's good that 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:21.440 you're warning pits, but I will admit it's a hell 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:25.080 of a do it yourself project. Okay, but you know, 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.480 just saying. But anyway, if you were to somehow find 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:30.640 a way where you could blow compressed air through the 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:33.160 stream up slag as it's coming out of the plasma 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:36.920 waste converter, it turns into this very very thin material 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:40.600 almost feels kind of like cotton or insulation, and uh 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:44.840 it's called rock wool and um it's I actually saw 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:46.880 a video of this stuff being made. It's just these 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:51.240 two guys standing around. Guy from Georgia Tech actually someone 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:53.360 I chatted with quite a bit when I was writing 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:57.319 an article about this um. But the video of him 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:01.640 blowing compressed air through this molten stream of material was 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:04.520 really impressive and kind of scary because it's just these 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:07.679 two guys standing there building compressed air through material that's 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:10.720 so hot that it would do you serious arm if 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:13.480 you touched it. Right. Um, but but it turns into 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:15.240 rock wall, which turns out to be a really good 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:20.160 insulator and uh and could be a way of making 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:22.599 money off plasma waste converters. But well, we'll talk a 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:25.400 little bit more about how they can generate in cash. 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:28.800 So anyway you get this, you put the garbage through 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:32.160 this stuff, those are the problems. You get the end 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:37.600 gas and the slag, and you end up reducing the 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:43.320 amount of weight and space of that garbage significantly. One 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:47.440 other benefit to using plasma waste converter to get rid 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:52.280 of your stuff is that, uh, you can treat all 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:55.960 kinds of garbage in there that you might not otherwise 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:59.240 want buried in landfills that because of uh, you know, 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:02.760 it could be dangerou For example, medical waste which could 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:06.360 be infectious. Um. Basically, medical waste can be treated in 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.040 a plasma waste converter and it you know it's inert 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:12.640 once it's done, because you know it it breaks materials 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:14.840 down to the point where they are no longer what 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:18.800 they once were, and you know it's no longer dangerous. However, 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:22.440 there are limits to how not dangerous things can be. 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:26.160 One of the things that you cannot just grab a 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:29.640 bucket and throw into the plasma waste converter is spent 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:34.760 nuclear rods. That is what they call in scientific terms bad. 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:36.640 So if you are to do it yourself er and 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:39.640 you've built your plasma wast converter in your backyard, not 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.480 only should you not blow compressed air through the slag, 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:46.080 but also please don't put any spent nuclear rods in there. Yeah, 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:52.320 let's be responsible. Okay. Then, so you know I mentioned 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.120 that the weight and the volume are reduced. Yes, it's 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:57.599 actually reduced by a very significant amount. I mean, you 0:13:57.640 --> 0:13:59.520 granted a lot of the stuff is being turned into gas, 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.080 and then a lot of it is being turned into 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:04.040 the slag, and the slag is much more dense than 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:07.360 the original material usually that you put through this. So 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:11.080 in general, uh, the weight of the slag ends up 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:14.199 being about the weight of the original waste you put 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:18.760 in there, and the volume is five cent so in 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:21.560 other words, it takes up much less space. It's very dense. 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:25.640 Um Often the slag, if it's dried so that becomes 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:29.120 the rocky substance, could be used in in building materials, 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.480 so like concrete or even just just using it as 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:38.760 you know gravel really. Um. But the neat thing about 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:40.920 these these plasma waste converters, now there are on a 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.320 whole lot of them out there right now, there's only 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:46.120 a few. There's a couple in Japan, and there's one 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.160 that was being built in Florida. I actually haven't looked 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:50.240 to see how the progress has gone with that one. 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:54.840 It should have been operational by now. Um. But these 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:58.400 the really cool thing about these is that not only 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:01.320 would they eventually be able to taken all the incoming 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:05.280 garbage coming into the landfill to process, but some of 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:08.440 them operated such a huge capacity We're talking thousands of 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:11.960 tons of garbage every day that not only could they 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:14.240 handle all the incoming garbage, but could actually make a 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:18.040 dent in the existing garbage at the landfill. Why are 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:21.640 you going around denting garbage? I'm just pointing out that 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:26.400 if we were to invest in this technology, eventually we 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:31.520 could reclaim landfills. You could actually end up using them, 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:36.360 uh enough so that the landfill is gone because you've 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:39.200 you've consumed all the garbage in there. Now granted you 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:41.240 would still be getting income and garbage, so it's not 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:43.359 like you could just shut down. You know, you wouldn't. 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:47.760 These these aren't like, uh, these aren't facilities that you 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:49.880 you start up and then like twenty years later they're 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:54.200 insignificant or uh are obsolete. No, you would still be 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:59.160 taking incoming garbage and and still gasifying or vitrifying it. 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:05.360 But you could reclaim all those landfills. That's pretty impressive 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.840 considering that. Yeah, I mean, think about all the different 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:13.920 communities that really fight to have to to to prevent 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:16.800 landfills moving in. Um. It would be a good way 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.520 to reclaim all that land use it for something else 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:23.760 once it's cleaned. UM. And one of the really cool 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:28.280 uh ideas I saw was too you know, if building 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:33.040 a whole plasma waist center is too much money, um, 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:38.160 you could always make a portable version. Oh yeah, this 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.360 one's kind of scary. So here's the portable idea. The 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:45.040 portable ideas that you go to a landfill, you drill 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:50.680 down into the landfill, You insert into the hole a 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:53.360 plasma torch on the end of a very long pole. 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:57.280 You cap the hole at the top with a chamber 0:16:57.360 --> 0:17:01.240 that can capture escaping gases and yet light that sucker 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:06.840 up seriously. Yeah, the landfill itself becomes the furnace for 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:09.680 the plasma waste converter. Instead of building a furnace around 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:12.720 the torch, the landfill itself access and furnace. And again, 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:17.719 since you're not using combustion, you don't set fire to everything. 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:19.879 There's no oxygen down there, at least not enough to 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:24.320 actually create a fire. You're just you're consuming the landfill 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.760 from the inside out. Yeah, I had no idea that 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:31.600 was possible. Yeah, and I don't know that anyone's actually 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:35.720 done it yet, but I saw a really cool presentation 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:38.680 of it at Georgia Tech. Well. Um, I would also 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:43.880 assume that since plasma cutters are available for people to buy, 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:46.080 that this is something you really wouldn't want to try. 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:48.960 That you theoretically could possibly do, you know, try to 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:52.880 burn your own garbage. This would be seeingly bad idea. 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.240 And I'll tell you exactly why it's a bad idea, Okay, 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:58.680 beside the fact that you would possibly maim and or 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.480 kill yourself. Yeah. Um, the gas that's given off the 0:18:02.600 --> 0:18:09.080 organic gas is not necessarily harmless. Now, we talked about 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:12.960 how the materials get broken down into into very inert 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:18.119 uh forms that mainly pertains to the slag, all right, 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:20.320 so that when the slag comes out. One of the 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:22.480 one of the big concerns about plasma waste converters is 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:25.560 there's a lot of stuff that's in garbage. And there's mercury, 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:29.720 there's lead, there's all these materials that eventually, you know 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.480 that you only break them down so far, right, it's 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:37.400 not like you can change the atoms. Um. Well, there 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:40.000 was a worry that maybe the slag, the stuff could 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:42.879 leach out of the slag get into the groundwater, and 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:46.280 then you really just traded one problem for another, really 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:53.160 serious problems. It looks like the material doesn't leach out anything, 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:56.720 so that concern is gone. But stuff that turns into 0:18:56.760 --> 0:19:01.080 a gas that is toxic that remains. And it's only 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:04.800 through a process of scrubbing that gas by putting it 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:07.760 through a series of filters that you start taking out 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:11.920 the harmful elements that could otherwise, uh, you know, cause 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:15.920 serious damage and or kill people. Right, But it's it's 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:20.879 mainly hydrogen and carbon monoxide off, but there's other stuff 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:25.240 that can be carbon monoxide is not the healthiest stuff 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:28.160 in the world either. But granted, you know a little 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.400 whiff of it's not gonna instantaneously kill you, but yes 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.760 it is. It is toxic, but yeah, that's why if 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:38.240 you look at a full plasma waste converter system, there 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:42.560 is a after you. After you've burned everything, there's still 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:45.239 more to the system. Besides that. You usually have at 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:47.000 the front of the system, you've got a conveyor belt 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:50.040 carries the garbage to some grinders which grind it down 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:52.880 into tiny bits. The tiny bits go into the furnace. 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:56.280 The furnace burns that stuff up or melts it. I 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:59.199 guess it's better way of putting it. Gasifies it. The 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:01.760 gas goes into one part of the system, and the 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:06.000 slag gets drained off. Now the gas usually we'll go 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:08.760 through a cleaning system like I mentioned, where it will 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:12.120 go through uh usually a spray of water which helps 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:15.160 cool it down because this gas is incredibly hot after 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:18.440 coming out of the furnace, and then it goes through 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:21.240 it also scrubs the gas out of some pollutants and 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:25.159 some particulates that are usually included in the gas. And 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:28.320 then I will go through a filter that has um 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:33.399 base in it. That's because the gas can have acidic 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:35.520 elements in it and of course, when you mix an 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:39.600 acid with the base, what do you get? Um? Shoot, 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:42.879 pH seven? What is that? All right? It's neutral. But 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:45.680 the more important thing is you get a salt basse 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:50.359 plus acid equal salt. Um. That's okay, that's okay. The 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:51.919 only reason I know it is because it's in the 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:53.760 paragraph right in front of me. I forgot that. It's 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:56.600 been a long time since I have had high school chemistry. Um. 0:20:56.680 --> 0:20:59.959 But yes, all of our listeners, of course we're screaming 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.200 it out. I know they were, like them are in 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:08.400 high school chemistry right now. Hey, guys, how's it going anyway? So, yeah, 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:12.040 you get you get a neutral salt as a result, 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:15.919 and uh, it goes through this cleaning process. It's usually 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:18.399 several steps so that you have ended up with a 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:21.200 synthetic gas that can actually be used as a fuel. 0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:26.200 So now we're getting to why our how a plasma 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:29.400 waste converter can be profitable because we we know that 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:32.879 environmentally this sounds like a fantastic idea. I mean, you 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:35.160 get rid of all this garbage, you end up with 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:37.320 some synthetic gas that can be used as a fuel. 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:39.639 You end up with some slag that's a nert it 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:43.639 sounds like a dream come true, right, more or less, 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:45.720 I mean better than a bunch of big pile of 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:49.159 garbage sitting out back. Right. So, but we know that 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:55.240 the world revolves around making cash money pin Is Nickels, Dames, Cordas, 0:21:55.320 --> 0:21:59.280 dollar bills, hundred dollar bills. I bet no one got 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:02.200 that reference anyway, So it is all about the Benjamin's. 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:04.560 It is all about there you go, they'll get that reference. 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:08.920 So anyway, the the the way that they can make 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:12.679 cash is that one. There's this, uh, there's these this 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:17.760 thing called tipping fees. Now. Tipping fees refer to the 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:20.000 amount of money or the money that people have to 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:23.160 pay in order to be able to um to cart 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:29.520 garbage to a landfill. All right, well, right now, waste 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:34.280 management's kind of almost a monopoly, so the landfills can 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:37.600 pretty much dictate the tipping fees. There's no real competition there, 0:22:38.320 --> 0:22:42.320 there's no incentive to lower tipping fees. Populations are growing 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:47.040 and consumption continues to grow. So really, uh, these these 0:22:47.040 --> 0:22:48.879 fees are getting higher and higher. It's getting more and 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:52.360 more expensive to to just pay to have garbage ship 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:56.720 to landfills with plasma waste converters, you're not worried about 0:22:56.760 --> 0:22:59.520 running out of space anymore. In fact, you're making space. 0:22:59.720 --> 0:23:04.480 So the tipping fees could be negotiated to a lower level. 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:09.360 I'm sure that would make the waste management companies really happy. Yeah, yeah, 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:11.080 when it comes down to making money, and it's but 0:23:11.119 --> 0:23:13.520 then it's it's also stopped making money. It's also really 0:23:13.520 --> 0:23:18.720 hard for them to justify, uh, protesting, because protesting the 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:20.760 fact that hey, we're saving the world but we're not 0:23:20.800 --> 0:23:22.920 making as much money doesn't get you a lot of sympathy, 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:27.000 as it turns out. But anyway, so they could negotiate 0:23:27.040 --> 0:23:28.879 tipping fees, and tipping fees would be part of what 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:32.440 how they would make money. They could also sell the slag, however, 0:23:32.480 --> 0:23:34.720 in whatever format, whether it was being used as a 0:23:35.240 --> 0:23:38.320 uh you know, like a gravel or a building material, 0:23:38.520 --> 0:23:40.560 or if they were making rock wool, they could sell 0:23:40.600 --> 0:23:46.240 it like installation. It's apparently extremely effective as installation um. 0:23:46.280 --> 0:23:49.680 And then with the gas, they could actually generate enough 0:23:49.720 --> 0:23:54.160 gas from destroying this garbage to create fuel to run 0:23:54.200 --> 0:23:57.720 the facility itself. So in that sense they don't need 0:23:57.800 --> 0:24:00.760