Dallas-based Energy Company Researches Ways To Rid Emerging Markets Of Municipal Waste

Glen Cox, Director of Engineering at a Celina-based energy solutions company

, wants to see waste converted to energy for the people of Sierra Leone and other emerging markets. He believes that by using a renewable supply of waste through mechanisms such as Steam, BIogas, Syngas or Heat, many of the power, waste and water problems that the country is facing could be solved.

"The problem with Sierra Leone right now is that people are throwing garbage into the roads, streets, rivers and the sea," Cox says. "There's no garbage collection system currently in place right now."

If you go to a town like Freetown, Sierra Leone, it has a massive pollution problem, Cox says. People are burning garbage in the streets. "Most people, because they don't have power, are burning wood for heating and cooking."

Generally speaking, taking care of the garbage will solve other issues. "You'll get rid of the garbage itself, and clean up the streets."

According to a 2009 study conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency and North Carolina State University, waste-to-energy plants are the most eco-friendly place for waste that cannot be recycled.

Many waste-to-energy processes produce electricity directly through combustion or through a combustible fuel commodity such as methane, methanol, ethanol or synthetic fuels. Producing energy from waste and other fuels without direct combustion are now available through new technologies. The digestion of anaerobic bacteria in landfills produces a gas that is about 50 percent methane, while a municipal sewage digester can produce a gas that is 65 to 75 percent methane.

A leading provider of diesel, natural gas and HFO power plants world-wide, spoke to the Sierra Leone government about solutions that will help the country get rid of some of their Municipal Solid Waste. One of the first tasks would be coming up with a way to collect garbage and having it placed in a landfill. The next phase would be implementing a waste-to-energy technology.

There are several different technologies available to convert waste into energy. However, Cox is being careful to choose a technology that has been proven effective. He wants to be able to visit a plant to see the product working in action before implementing the process.

Some of those available technologies include anaerobic digestion, which involves a series of processes where microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. Alternative fuel applications include biogas from agricultural waste, which are digesters that produce methane gas from hog, cattle and poultry confinement waste.

Incineration, gasification, plasma gasification, pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion all provide solutions to waste management issues.

Processing waste-to-energy promotes the environment, health and has economic benefits.

"There's potentially a lot of health risks associated with garbage, rats, and infestations polluting the water," Cox says. "So you'll be able to clean up the environment and then you'll be able to produce power. It's really a great solution."

by: Will Diesel

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