Trash-To-Fuel Process Validated By US Military 64
An anonymous reader writes "After going through all kinds of grief, including being shut down by the Washington State Ecology Department, classifying them as an 'incinerator,' it looks like Green Power Inc is finally ready to shine. The Air Force, Navy, Army, and Marines, in a joint effort, validated their technology in November, and the results are now being published for the first time. For every 100 tons of municipal solid waste feedstock processed each day, the plant produces 1240 gallons of Naphtha, 3700 gallons of Kerosene, 6900 gallons of Diesel and 3000 gallons of Fuel Oil. And even the ash can be used for cement or asphalt. They generate 1 MW of electricity to sell to the grid 24/7, running three shifts per day to keep the plant going, employing approximately five people per shift. Sticker price is $25 million. ROI, 3.5 years. Maybe with this announcement, the trend of no sales in the US will change, compared to the 72 foreign contracts backed by letters of credit."
Nice numbers. (Score:1, Insightful)
No wonder the return on investment of this $25 million dollar plant is estimated to be in just over three and a half years, after which it is pure profit -....
That's a bit of an exaggeration. There's personnel, insurance, maintenance, etc....
They look like nice numbers but I'd have to sit down and look at them real close with an auditor.
Re:Amazingly efficient... (Score:3, Insightful)
It gets worse if you do an energy balance:
According to the DOE (Table 1) [doe.gov], municipal waste contains less than 12e6 BTU/Ton, so your 100 TPD waste stream will contain 1.2 E9 BTU tops.
Disregarding electrical output:
Naptha; 1,240 Gal @118700 BTU/Gal = 1.47E8 BTU
Kerosene: 3400 Gal @134000 BTU/Gal = 4.56E8 BTU
Diesel: 6900 Gal @129500 BTU/Gal = 8.94E8 BTU
Fuel Oil: 3000 Gal @145000 BTU/Gal = 4.35E8 BTU
Total Output: 1.93E9 BTU
So, either they have some energy input they're not telling us about, or it's a scam.
Return on Investment (Score:2, Insightful)
...the return on investment of this $25 million dollar plant is estimated to be in just over three and a half years...
Beware of the salesman that quotes a Return on Investment in terms of time.