CLAYTON INDUSTRIES MEDICAL WASTE TO ENERGY SYSTEMS
The total annual volume of medical waste generated in the United States is currently estimated to approximately 465,000 tons (1998 estimate). Solid waste generated per person per day in hospital facilities has been estimated to range from 10 to 25 pounds.Fifteen percent of that waste is classified as "infectious" under Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines. Annual growth rate for medical waste is estimated to be 7-10%.
Existing methods of processing medical waste:
1). Autoclaves -
The pressurized steam vessel does not completely destroy the infectious element. The design allows for the release of endotoxin which are gram-negative bacteria, and toxic gases. Autoclaves release the following compounds xylenes, ethyl benzene, toluene, carbon disulfide, acetone, and styrene into the atmosphere.
2). Incineration -
Medical waste incinerators are one of the leading emissions sources of persistent, toxic, bio accumulative pollutants like dioxins and mercury. Dioxins can weaken the immune system and interfere with the endocrine system.
CLAYTON INDUSTRIES APPLIED TECHNOLOGY FOR MEDICAL WASTE PROCESSING (ON-SITE PLATFORMS
Technology offered is configured on a closed loop waste processing technology. The technology applied utilizes high temperature plasma (operating parameter 10 K degrees Fahrenheit) to chemically breakdown the medical waste constitutes. This process is not to be compared to incinerator based technology which burns the material for waste reduction (in the form of ash). Technology provides medical institutions with a system which can process all biohazard waste streams including chemotherapy fluids and body parts.
The technology provided by Clayton Industries converts the medical waste into a syngas. This gas can be further processed and utilized as a clean renewable energy source for the hospital.The syngas is a cleaner than traditional natural gas (it does not have the concentrations of particular matter). The syngas can be converted for electricity generation (turbine), high pressure steam, and chilled water through supplemental systems.
WASTE-TO-ENERGY OVERVIEW:
WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS TODAY?
1). MUNICIPALITY & MEDICAL WASTE STREAMS ELECTRICITY RATES
2). LANDFILLS ARE REACHING 75% CAPACITY
3). POOR WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (LANDFILLING) LEAD TO THE TRANSMISSION OF DISEASE LANDFILL LINERS BREAKDOWN AND ALLOW TOXIC FLUIDS TO LEACH INTO GROUND WATER BASINS
4). GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN PRESSURED TO FOLLOW GLOBAL CLIMATE AGREEMENTS AND SHUTTER ALL COAL PLANTS AND MAJORITY OF NUCLEAR PLANTS ELIMINATING IN-COUNTRY BASE LOAD POWER GENERATION ASSETS.
5). ELECTRICITY IS IMPORTED AND COST THREE TIMES THE RATE PREVIOUSLY BANKRUPTING HOUSEHOLDS AND DECREASING THE STANDARD OF LIVING.
HOW ARE THE PROBLEMS RECTIFIED?
A PARADIGM SHIFT MUST BE INSTITUTED THROUGH A COMBINATION OF PRIVATE INVESTMENTAND FUNDING INITIATIVES TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEMS. RELIEF MUST BE A JOINT EFFORT TO PREVENT ECONOMICALCOLLAPSE.THE SOLUTION IS TO REVAMP BOTH THE WASTE AND ENERGY SECTORS BY DEVELOPING A COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK.
THIS FRAMEWORK WOULD BE BASED ON THE FOLLOWING:
1). REPLACE PAST ELECTRICITY GENERATING ASSETS WITH WASTE-TO-ENERGY ASSETS (ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE, GREEN TECHNOLOGY) AND PROVIDE AFFORDABLE ELECTRICITY FOR EVERY CITIZEN AT A CAPPED RATE.
2). OUTLAW LANDFILLS BY INITIATING THE REMEDIATION PROGRAM TO PROCESS WASTE AND RESTORE LANDFILLS TO VALUABLE REAL-ESTATE.
WASTE-TO-ENERGY PLATFORMS:
INCINERATION: defined as burning waste in an open pit which emits numerous toxic off-gases. These systems must be configured with environmental scrubber platforms costing billions of dollars. Oxygen is used to reduce waste volume, resulting in heavy concentrations of mercury, CO2, and other dioxins, and furans.
PYROLYSIS: chanegs the chemical composition of the biomass material. The low oxygen levels are used to reduce waste volume. Process still resulting in releases of influent gases in particular hydrocarbons.
GASIFICATION: the chemical decomposition of waste utilizing high temperatures in an oxygen-limited pressure vessel. The off-gas emissions are still a problem and require environmental controls like the scrubbers that incinerators employ.
HYBRID GASIFICATION (proprietary CLAYTON INDUSTRIES technology):like gasification but utilizes plasma technology not based on electrodes. The hybrid system differs from gasification by employing coupled reactors in a regeneration configuration to process the harmful gas emissions and increase system efficiency.
CLAYTON INDUSTRIES - PLASMA TORCH TECHNOLOGY
Selection of torch determines system capabilities and is the main contributing factor to influent gases (emissions control). A reliable torch design is paramount to ensure the Waste-to-Energy plant is capable of achieving the system operating parameters for 330 days a year.
CLAYTON INDUSTRIES will offer two torch designs:
1. Baseline Model – processes regular municipal, medical and sewage waste streams.
2. Enhanced Model which includes a secondary technology for SNF– processes hazardous chemicals, ammunition and explosive ordnances, and high level radioactive waste streams (i.e., spent nuclear fuel). The enhanced torch also provides a more efficient and improved ionization process.LASER-DRIVEN DESIGN - PLASMA TORCH (Enhanced Model)
250 KW TO MEGAWATT POWERCLAYTON INDUSTRIES PROPOSED TORCH FOR GENERATION-II DESIGN / WASTE-TO-ENERGY
The lower power (250kw) laser driven torch will be engineered as a direct retrofit for the baseline Waste-to- Energy reactor. The enhanced torch will require additional footprint for the power supply and driver circuits. The enhanced torch provides a more reliable processing capability. The laser driven torch requires dedicated power generation platform. The laser-driven torch differs from the self-sustainable baseline plasma torch which operates off syngas. The plant economics change for this power consumer.
Clayton Industries has introduced the concept of coupling two Waste-to-Energy system together in order to provide the dedicated power to operate the higher power (500KW to MW) laser driven torch and its power supplies. In principle, the baseline Waste-to-Energy system would convert all energy to operate the laser circuits of the second reactor platform.Disclosure: The enhanced torch alone, does not provide the capability to process radioactive waste in the standard Waste-to- Energy reactor. A specialized processing reactor coupled with hot cell loading facility would be a different platform.
WASTE TO ENERGY (W-T-E) TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICESCLAYTON INDUSTRIESC-SYSTEMS (SUBSIDIARY OF CLAYTON INDUSTRIES)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
A convergence of circumstances has made it extremely opportune to develop, implement, and deploy innovative plasma technologies for waste management and energy generation. First, the volumes of municipal solid waste and regulated medical waste are reaching proportions that are threatening to become an environmental disaster if nothing is done to resolve the problem responsibly. Second, stringent global agreements to curb the effects of global warming caused by emission of carbon dioxide from burning coal and oil are driving a move toward cleaner energy technologies. And finally, tighter and expensive government regulations on waste and pollution are forcing municipalities and hospitals to limit or eliminate pollution from waste. These circumstances and the fact that waste will always be part of civilized society, and that to function society needs energy, provide an attractive and sustainable business opportunity.
Gasification / Incineration technologies offered in the marketplace today, all claim to convert biomass to synthetic natural gas have been around for over a century. Conventional gasification works by reacting biomass or other organic material at temperatures above 1200oF in an environment with controlled amounts of oxygen and steam. Some of these technologies have been adapted to process waste because the incumbent incinerator technologies have been found to be wanting. However, the plants are inefficient and cannot reach the extreme temperatures necessary to melt and gasify high melting-point materials. Furthermore, they lead to emissions of even more toxic gases.
Clayton Industries, a Pittsburgh company, will manufacture and deploy innovative plasma technologies for waste management. The plasma technologies it offers will be used for waste to energy and other application. Clayton Industries - Directed High Energy Plasma Ionization Platform is an extremely efficient and more complete process for converting any waste stream to energy then the gasification technologies on the market today. It works because organic materials are converted to carbon monoxide and hydrogen—which is synthetic gas, a fuel that can be converted to electricity in a turbine or to other hydrocarbon products. Because of the extremely high temperatures reachable by plasma technologies (> 6,000oF), inorganic solids with high meting temperatures (such as metals, and oxides or ceramics) are converted to harmless, vitrified, or glass-like materials that can be used in the construction industry. Plasma gasification offers large producers of waste such as municipalities and hospitals, if they choose to own plasma waste management facilities, to become net generators of energy, thus transforming waste into a revenue stream.
Clayton Industries will pursue a diversified business model with initially three portfolios: (i) manufacturing of plasma technologies (ii) construction and operation of plasma waste management facilities for partnering entities such as municipalities and hospitals, and (iii) provision of service to owners of plasma-based waste management facilities. The company will derive revenue from (i) sale of plasma technologies, (ii) sales proceeds of energy products (electricity, fuel, and other byproducts) produced in the facilities it operates for partners such as municipalities and hospitals, and (iii) service contracts
TECHNICAL RESPONSE
The volumes of municipal waste and biosolids in particular, have now reached critical proportions that are threatening to become an environmental disaster if nothing is done to alleviate the problem. Because the vast majority of waste is carbonaceous (organic) matter, one approach to solving the problem is potentially a business opportunity to convert waste to clean fuel energy and to other harmless and useful byproducts. Clayton Industries is a Pittsburgh Company organized to manufacture and deploy innovative technologies for waste management. The company will implement advanced hybrid plasma technologies that ionize solid and sludge waste, and convert these to clean, renewable energy commodities, and to other harmless and useful byproducts. Producing clean energy/fuel this way contributes to solving another of the world’s big problems—global warming this is attributed to emission of too much carbon dioxide from burning coal and oil for energy. Stringent global agreements on climate change are driving a move toward cleaner energy technologies of which conversion of waste-to-energy will become a viable alternative, and a lucrative business opportunity.Waste is a looming environmental disaster for the United States and for most of the developed and developing world. Medical waste, as an example, is of special concern. This type of waste is regulated in most parts of the world, and is expensive to dispose of responsibly. It is not known exactly how much medical waste is generated in the United States.
The other waste stream that contributes significantly to the problem is municipal waste. Estimates by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put the volume of municipal solid waste generated annually in United States to over 260 million tons [3]. At this rate of generation, it means the average American produces about 4.7 pounds of waste per person per day. In most municipalities, about 35% of this waste is recycled to recover some kind of useful byproducts, 12% is combusted and converted to energy, and the rest, about 53% is discarded. Although medical waste constitutes only a small fraction of the overall annual waste production in the United States, it costs about 3 to 6 times more to dispose of, costing on average about 0.20 to 0.40 cents/pound. Waste and the related problem of pollution, have always been, and will continue to be part of civilized society. A solution to this problem guarantees a sustainable business. What has become clear is that the increasing volumes of waste are beginning to reach proportions that affect quality of life.
The waste problem and the potential to generate energy from waste are unique business opportunities for Clayton Industries. They provide a perspective within which to create a comprehensive business program that addresses, simultaneously, the waste management problem and the energy problem. Current ways of dealing with these issues contribute to pollution, which is yet another problem. Our solution is a Directed High Energy Ionization technology. Clayton Industries will provide two independent ionization technologies for the pilot programs in selected US municipalities. The first technology will be discussed in this proposal and the second one is a U.S DoD technology solely owned by Clayton Industries that will be rolled out in due time to cope with nuclear waste. This technology does not have the design restraints of current solutions for waste management technologies furthermore, our proposed solution would have the least bureaucratic and legal hurdles to overcome compared to current and past solutions. Most current approaches to waste management and energy generation are open loop, leading to emission of toxic compounds into the atmosphere. We will engineer systems that operate in a closed loop configuration to take advantage of inherent attributes for high efficiency and minimum pollution. The key component of the technology is a plasma torch.
TARGET MARKETS FOR TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT:
There are number of sectors where innovative versions of plasma technology can have a significant impact. These include (i) medical waste management facilities, (ii) sewage treatment plants, and (iii) municipal waste and garbage treatment facilities. In addition to these primary areas of application, plasma technology will also impact: (i) clinical medicine, (ii) sterilization, (iii) food processing and pasteurization, (iv) plasma spraying of protective coatings, (v) nanotechnology, and (vi) manufacturing processes where the chemistry can be modified with judicious application of plasma doses.
A projection of the waste industry for 2012 was estimated to be worth about $55 billion dollars [5]. Of this, waste collection represents the largest fraction at about $34 billion, accounting for about 61% of total industry. Waste disposal including, land filling ($13 billion) and waste-to-energy-incinerator processing ($2.7 billion) comprised about 28% of the industry [5].
Clayton industries subsidiary (C-SYSTEMS) will strategically position itself to capture the processing and disposal (land-filling and other aspects of final waste destination) segments of the business. Conservatively, the tally would position Clayton Industries to capture about 30% of the waste industry. While the remaining 70% of the industry constituted of waste collection, transportation, and recycling is very attractive, Clayton Industries would rather confine itself to specialized waste processing activities, and to other advanced applications of the plasma technology.
One of the valuable byproducts of Clayton Industries activity in waste processing will be synthetic natural gas (syngas): a clean fuel source that can be used to generate electricity. The market share for electricity revenue projection for 2014 is estimated to be about $426.3 billion dollars. This projection is broken down into: (i) shareholder-owned electric companies and utilities (68.6%), (ii) electric cooperatives (13%), (iii) electric utilities owned by municipalities (11.2%), (iv) energy service providers (3.7%), (v) political subdivisions (2.6%), (vi) and state projects (0.9%) [6].
Clayton Industries can penetrate and disrupt this market by introducing locally generated electric power that can be used in the locality where it is generated, or transmitted over the national grid to contiguous locations. The concept is to focus on producing electricity locally for a regional distribution configuration. This should result in a much lower cost of electricity, eliminating the overhead that is currently charged for transporting power from much further locations. This would create a problem for the electric companies since most lack generation plants in the locations they serve.
Use of ionization technology to generate electric power potentially enables large generators of waste to become net producers of electric energy. Such entities include: hospitals, municipalities, and large manufacturing industries that produce large volumes of waste or hazardous material. Not only would they be able to dispose of their waste in an environmentally responsible manner, they would generate their own electric power in the process to offset what they purchase from the utility companies. The usual process of disposing of waste, which is normally thought of as a financial sink, suddenly becomes a revenue stream.
What the Directed High Energy Ionization plasma process offers is a more efficient and complete way to perform the waste to energy conversation. The plasma ionization is a process in which inorganic solids of any form are converted to vitrified solid, glass-like materials that can be used to manufacture aggregates for the construction industry. At the same time, all organic (carbonaceous) materials are converted to carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas, otherwise known as syngas—which is an acronym for synthetic natural gas. Purified syngas can be used in one of several product applications. It can be converted to chemicals, used as a gaseous fuel, used as a liquid fuel, or used in an internal combustion engine to generate electricity. Because of the extreme temperatures involved in the plasma gasification process, no ashes are generated, and very little to no pollution is emitted. Plasma ionization uses plasma torches to generate the very high temperatures (> 6000oF). At these temperatures, most waste streams such as: municipal solid waste, medical waste, biohazard waste, industrial waste, or even nuclear waste can be gasified.
Directed High Energy Ionization is not merely a high temperature incineration process it is a much cleaner and complete chemical breakdown process that creates no dioxins, unlike incineration.
1). MUNICIPALITY & MEDICAL WASTE STREAMS ELECTRICITY RATES
2). LANDFILLS ARE REACHING 75% CAPACITY
3). POOR WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (LANDFILLING) LEAD TO THE TRANSMISSION OF DISEASE LANDFILL LINERS BREAKDOWN AND ALLOW TOXIC FLUIDS TO LEACH INTO GROUND WATER BASINS
4). GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN PRESSURED TO FOLLOW GLOBAL CLIMATE AGREEMENTS AND SHUTTER ALL COAL PLANTS AND MAJORITY OF NUCLEAR PLANTS ELIMINATING IN-COUNTRY BASE LOAD POWER GENERATION ASSETS.
5). ELECTRICITY IS IMPORTED AND COST THREE TIMES THE RATE PREVIOUSLY BANKRUPTING HOUSEHOLDS AND DECREASING THE STANDARD OF LIVING.
HOW ARE THE PROBLEMS RECTIFIED?
A PARADIGM SHIFT MUST BE INSTITUTED THROUGH A COMBINATION OF PRIVATE INVESTMENTAND FUNDING INITIATIVES TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEMS. RELIEF MUST BE A JOINT EFFORT TO PREVENT ECONOMICALCOLLAPSE.THE SOLUTION IS TO REVAMP BOTH THE WASTE AND ENERGY SECTORS BY DEVELOPING A COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK.
THIS FRAMEWORK WOULD BE BASED ON THE FOLLOWING:
1). REPLACE PAST ELECTRICITY GENERATING ASSETS WITH WASTE-TO-ENERGY ASSETS (ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE, GREEN TECHNOLOGY) AND PROVIDE AFFORDABLE ELECTRICITY FOR EVERY CITIZEN AT A CAPPED RATE.
2). OUTLAW LANDFILLS BY INITIATING THE REMEDIATION PROGRAM TO PROCESS WASTE AND RESTORE LANDFILLS TO VALUABLE REAL-ESTATE.
WASTE-TO-ENERGY PLATFORMS:
INCINERATION: defined as burning waste in an open pit which emits numerous toxic off-gases. These systems must be configured with environmental scrubber platforms costing billions of dollars. Oxygen is used to reduce waste volume, resulting in heavy concentrations of mercury, CO2, and other dioxins, and furans.
PYROLYSIS: chanegs the chemical composition of the biomass material. The low oxygen levels are used to reduce waste volume. Process still resulting in releases of influent gases in particular hydrocarbons.
GASIFICATION: the chemical decomposition of waste utilizing high temperatures in an oxygen-limited pressure vessel. The off-gas emissions are still a problem and require environmental controls like the scrubbers that incinerators employ.
HYBRID GASIFICATION (proprietary CLAYTON INDUSTRIES technology):like gasification but utilizes plasma technology not based on electrodes. The hybrid system differs from gasification by employing coupled reactors in a regeneration configuration to process the harmful gas emissions and increase system efficiency.
CLAYTON INDUSTRIES - PLASMA TORCH TECHNOLOGY
Selection of torch determines system capabilities and is the main contributing factor to influent gases (emissions control). A reliable torch design is paramount to ensure the Waste-to-Energy plant is capable of achieving the system operating parameters for 330 days a year.
CLAYTON INDUSTRIES will offer two torch designs:
1. Baseline Model – processes regular municipal, medical and sewage waste streams.
2. Enhanced Model which includes a secondary technology for SNF– processes hazardous chemicals, ammunition and explosive ordnances, and high level radioactive waste streams (i.e., spent nuclear fuel). The enhanced torch also provides a more efficient and improved ionization process.LASER-DRIVEN DESIGN - PLASMA TORCH (Enhanced Model)
250 KW TO MEGAWATT POWERCLAYTON INDUSTRIES PROPOSED TORCH FOR GENERATION-II DESIGN / WASTE-TO-ENERGY
The lower power (250kw) laser driven torch will be engineered as a direct retrofit for the baseline Waste-to- Energy reactor. The enhanced torch will require additional footprint for the power supply and driver circuits. The enhanced torch provides a more reliable processing capability. The laser driven torch requires dedicated power generation platform. The laser-driven torch differs from the self-sustainable baseline plasma torch which operates off syngas. The plant economics change for this power consumer.
Clayton Industries has introduced the concept of coupling two Waste-to-Energy system together in order to provide the dedicated power to operate the higher power (500KW to MW) laser driven torch and its power supplies. In principle, the baseline Waste-to-Energy system would convert all energy to operate the laser circuits of the second reactor platform.Disclosure: The enhanced torch alone, does not provide the capability to process radioactive waste in the standard Waste-to- Energy reactor. A specialized processing reactor coupled with hot cell loading facility would be a different platform.
WASTE TO ENERGY (W-T-E) TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICESCLAYTON INDUSTRIESC-SYSTEMS (SUBSIDIARY OF CLAYTON INDUSTRIES)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
A convergence of circumstances has made it extremely opportune to develop, implement, and deploy innovative plasma technologies for waste management and energy generation. First, the volumes of municipal solid waste and regulated medical waste are reaching proportions that are threatening to become an environmental disaster if nothing is done to resolve the problem responsibly. Second, stringent global agreements to curb the effects of global warming caused by emission of carbon dioxide from burning coal and oil are driving a move toward cleaner energy technologies. And finally, tighter and expensive government regulations on waste and pollution are forcing municipalities and hospitals to limit or eliminate pollution from waste. These circumstances and the fact that waste will always be part of civilized society, and that to function society needs energy, provide an attractive and sustainable business opportunity.
Gasification / Incineration technologies offered in the marketplace today, all claim to convert biomass to synthetic natural gas have been around for over a century. Conventional gasification works by reacting biomass or other organic material at temperatures above 1200oF in an environment with controlled amounts of oxygen and steam. Some of these technologies have been adapted to process waste because the incumbent incinerator technologies have been found to be wanting. However, the plants are inefficient and cannot reach the extreme temperatures necessary to melt and gasify high melting-point materials. Furthermore, they lead to emissions of even more toxic gases.
Clayton Industries, a Pittsburgh company, will manufacture and deploy innovative plasma technologies for waste management. The plasma technologies it offers will be used for waste to energy and other application. Clayton Industries - Directed High Energy Plasma Ionization Platform is an extremely efficient and more complete process for converting any waste stream to energy then the gasification technologies on the market today. It works because organic materials are converted to carbon monoxide and hydrogen—which is synthetic gas, a fuel that can be converted to electricity in a turbine or to other hydrocarbon products. Because of the extremely high temperatures reachable by plasma technologies (> 6,000oF), inorganic solids with high meting temperatures (such as metals, and oxides or ceramics) are converted to harmless, vitrified, or glass-like materials that can be used in the construction industry. Plasma gasification offers large producers of waste such as municipalities and hospitals, if they choose to own plasma waste management facilities, to become net generators of energy, thus transforming waste into a revenue stream.
Clayton Industries will pursue a diversified business model with initially three portfolios: (i) manufacturing of plasma technologies (ii) construction and operation of plasma waste management facilities for partnering entities such as municipalities and hospitals, and (iii) provision of service to owners of plasma-based waste management facilities. The company will derive revenue from (i) sale of plasma technologies, (ii) sales proceeds of energy products (electricity, fuel, and other byproducts) produced in the facilities it operates for partners such as municipalities and hospitals, and (iii) service contracts
TECHNICAL RESPONSE
The volumes of municipal waste and biosolids in particular, have now reached critical proportions that are threatening to become an environmental disaster if nothing is done to alleviate the problem. Because the vast majority of waste is carbonaceous (organic) matter, one approach to solving the problem is potentially a business opportunity to convert waste to clean fuel energy and to other harmless and useful byproducts. Clayton Industries is a Pittsburgh Company organized to manufacture and deploy innovative technologies for waste management. The company will implement advanced hybrid plasma technologies that ionize solid and sludge waste, and convert these to clean, renewable energy commodities, and to other harmless and useful byproducts. Producing clean energy/fuel this way contributes to solving another of the world’s big problems—global warming this is attributed to emission of too much carbon dioxide from burning coal and oil for energy. Stringent global agreements on climate change are driving a move toward cleaner energy technologies of which conversion of waste-to-energy will become a viable alternative, and a lucrative business opportunity.Waste is a looming environmental disaster for the United States and for most of the developed and developing world. Medical waste, as an example, is of special concern. This type of waste is regulated in most parts of the world, and is expensive to dispose of responsibly. It is not known exactly how much medical waste is generated in the United States.
The other waste stream that contributes significantly to the problem is municipal waste. Estimates by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put the volume of municipal solid waste generated annually in United States to over 260 million tons [3]. At this rate of generation, it means the average American produces about 4.7 pounds of waste per person per day. In most municipalities, about 35% of this waste is recycled to recover some kind of useful byproducts, 12% is combusted and converted to energy, and the rest, about 53% is discarded. Although medical waste constitutes only a small fraction of the overall annual waste production in the United States, it costs about 3 to 6 times more to dispose of, costing on average about 0.20 to 0.40 cents/pound. Waste and the related problem of pollution, have always been, and will continue to be part of civilized society. A solution to this problem guarantees a sustainable business. What has become clear is that the increasing volumes of waste are beginning to reach proportions that affect quality of life.
The waste problem and the potential to generate energy from waste are unique business opportunities for Clayton Industries. They provide a perspective within which to create a comprehensive business program that addresses, simultaneously, the waste management problem and the energy problem. Current ways of dealing with these issues contribute to pollution, which is yet another problem. Our solution is a Directed High Energy Ionization technology. Clayton Industries will provide two independent ionization technologies for the pilot programs in selected US municipalities. The first technology will be discussed in this proposal and the second one is a U.S DoD technology solely owned by Clayton Industries that will be rolled out in due time to cope with nuclear waste. This technology does not have the design restraints of current solutions for waste management technologies furthermore, our proposed solution would have the least bureaucratic and legal hurdles to overcome compared to current and past solutions. Most current approaches to waste management and energy generation are open loop, leading to emission of toxic compounds into the atmosphere. We will engineer systems that operate in a closed loop configuration to take advantage of inherent attributes for high efficiency and minimum pollution. The key component of the technology is a plasma torch.
TARGET MARKETS FOR TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT:
There are number of sectors where innovative versions of plasma technology can have a significant impact. These include (i) medical waste management facilities, (ii) sewage treatment plants, and (iii) municipal waste and garbage treatment facilities. In addition to these primary areas of application, plasma technology will also impact: (i) clinical medicine, (ii) sterilization, (iii) food processing and pasteurization, (iv) plasma spraying of protective coatings, (v) nanotechnology, and (vi) manufacturing processes where the chemistry can be modified with judicious application of plasma doses.
A projection of the waste industry for 2012 was estimated to be worth about $55 billion dollars [5]. Of this, waste collection represents the largest fraction at about $34 billion, accounting for about 61% of total industry. Waste disposal including, land filling ($13 billion) and waste-to-energy-incinerator processing ($2.7 billion) comprised about 28% of the industry [5].
Clayton industries subsidiary (C-SYSTEMS) will strategically position itself to capture the processing and disposal (land-filling and other aspects of final waste destination) segments of the business. Conservatively, the tally would position Clayton Industries to capture about 30% of the waste industry. While the remaining 70% of the industry constituted of waste collection, transportation, and recycling is very attractive, Clayton Industries would rather confine itself to specialized waste processing activities, and to other advanced applications of the plasma technology.
One of the valuable byproducts of Clayton Industries activity in waste processing will be synthetic natural gas (syngas): a clean fuel source that can be used to generate electricity. The market share for electricity revenue projection for 2014 is estimated to be about $426.3 billion dollars. This projection is broken down into: (i) shareholder-owned electric companies and utilities (68.6%), (ii) electric cooperatives (13%), (iii) electric utilities owned by municipalities (11.2%), (iv) energy service providers (3.7%), (v) political subdivisions (2.6%), (vi) and state projects (0.9%) [6].
Clayton Industries can penetrate and disrupt this market by introducing locally generated electric power that can be used in the locality where it is generated, or transmitted over the national grid to contiguous locations. The concept is to focus on producing electricity locally for a regional distribution configuration. This should result in a much lower cost of electricity, eliminating the overhead that is currently charged for transporting power from much further locations. This would create a problem for the electric companies since most lack generation plants in the locations they serve.
Use of ionization technology to generate electric power potentially enables large generators of waste to become net producers of electric energy. Such entities include: hospitals, municipalities, and large manufacturing industries that produce large volumes of waste or hazardous material. Not only would they be able to dispose of their waste in an environmentally responsible manner, they would generate their own electric power in the process to offset what they purchase from the utility companies. The usual process of disposing of waste, which is normally thought of as a financial sink, suddenly becomes a revenue stream.
What the Directed High Energy Ionization plasma process offers is a more efficient and complete way to perform the waste to energy conversation. The plasma ionization is a process in which inorganic solids of any form are converted to vitrified solid, glass-like materials that can be used to manufacture aggregates for the construction industry. At the same time, all organic (carbonaceous) materials are converted to carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas, otherwise known as syngas—which is an acronym for synthetic natural gas. Purified syngas can be used in one of several product applications. It can be converted to chemicals, used as a gaseous fuel, used as a liquid fuel, or used in an internal combustion engine to generate electricity. Because of the extreme temperatures involved in the plasma gasification process, no ashes are generated, and very little to no pollution is emitted. Plasma ionization uses plasma torches to generate the very high temperatures (> 6000oF). At these temperatures, most waste streams such as: municipal solid waste, medical waste, biohazard waste, industrial waste, or even nuclear waste can be gasified.
Directed High Energy Ionization is not merely a high temperature incineration process it is a much cleaner and complete chemical breakdown process that creates no dioxins, unlike incineration.
