The city council of Ottawa, Ontario has voted unanimously to approve what will be the first waste gasification facility constructed in North America. The waste-to-energy plant was proposed by PlascoEnergy Group and could be operational in as little as three years.

PlascoEnergy convinced Ottawa's city counselors by constructing a test plant capable of converting 100 tons of trash daily into electricity. The new plant will convert 400 tons a day and power approximately 19,000 homes. PlascoEnergy is developing a cooler gasification process in order to lower the cost of energy produced by the trash-to-electricity conversion of an affordable price. The new plant will use plasma torches to break down garbage into syngas, which will then be burned in turbines to produce electricity.

While gasification has been slow to catch on in the U.S. or Canada, there are a number of similar plants in both Europe and Asia. PlascoEnergy even has a test facility in Spain. But gasification is rapidly gaining ground in North America. Ottawa's city council is already considering the construction of a second plant. Hawaii just approved $100 million worth of bonds to construct a gasification plant. Even Massachusetts is considering a small plant, constructed by PlascoEnergy's competitor Ze-gen.

Photo — WVS