Plasco Energy Group Inc. diverts more than 99% of waste from landfill, replaces fossil fuels with our clean gas, eliminates the greenhouse gases from landfills and we do it greener and more efficiently than the most advanced composters, incinerators or other commercially available waste processing technologies. With Plasco you get:

• 2.1 tonnes of greenhouse gas reductions from each tonne of waste processed

• No emissions from converting waste to PlascoSyngas and other valuable products

• Ultra-low emissions from generating power

• Net 1.2 MWh of green base load power from each tonne of waste converted

• No water consumption

• Electricity generated within the local grid

There are NO air emissions during the conversion of MSW to PlascoSyngas. In a Plasco facility all air emissions are associated with engine exhausts. Below are Plasco's emission profiles for the production of electricity. The 'Plasco Regulated Limit' column represents the emission limits that Plasco proposes to be regulated against regardless of whether a jurisdiction has less strict standards. The 'Plasco Target' column illustrates the limits Plasco is committed to meet or work towards. 

* Values are at 101.3kPa, 11% 02, and 25^oC.

See how Plasco compares to the very best composting or digestion of organic waste.

Emissions from Plasco facilities are monitored using Continuous Emissions Monitoring equipment for all possible air contaminants. Periodic sample testing is conducted for substances not currently traceable by existing Continuous Emissions Monitoring technology. Plasco believes Continuous Emissions Monitoring is the most accurate and transparent monitoring method. We are committed to the research and deployment of the newest and best available Continuous Emissions Monitoring technology for all substances. If you are aware of new and interesting monitoring technologies please let us know about them.

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Composting organic waste through anaerobic digestion diverts a portion of a source separated organic waste stream from landfill and creates electricity and compost soil. Plasco facilities deal with the organic portion of waste along with residual inorganics without requiring source separation—and with better overall environmental performance. Here's how Plasco compares to Anaerobic Digestion when processing only organics:

¹ Based on City of Toronto Generating Biogas from Source Separated Organic Waste for Energy Production Final Report, November 2002.
² 50-2500 ppm H2S in biogas.

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Plasco facilities create NO emissions from the conversion of waste to fuel gas and other valuable products. The only air emissions from our facilities are exhausts from the gas in standard electrical generating engines. The patented conversion process makes it possible to clean the product gas of impurities before it is used in the electrical generating engines. So emissions are much lower than regulatory limits anywhere in the world. Plasco is the only company in the world that can process mixed municipal waste and produce a quality gas to run in engines. This means that Plasco has the only system that can use waste heat from the conversion process and the engines to support combined cycle power generation. This makes it possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while producing reliable and clean base load electricity.

Reduced trucking of waste

Our facilities can be deployed in 200 tonne-per-day (or greater) units across a city. Instead of trucking waste long distances to remote landfills, waste can be trucked shorter distances to distributed Plasco facilities.

A Plasco facility can be enclosed in a custom designed attractive building that will fit well into any area zoned for commercial or light industry. The facilities are quiet and they do not smell. Plasco facilities make good neighbours. Communities can deal with their own waste and generate their own green electricity right where it's needed. 

Reduced transmission line loss

Areas that generate large amounts of waste are typically areas that consume large amounts of electricity. Locating our facilities close to where waste is created also has the benefit of generating electricity where it is needed. This means that it can be transmitted and consumed over the local network instead of being imported long distances from the power grid. This is a problem faced by traditional technologies like coal, nuclear and even with renewable sources like wind and hydro. Transmission over long distances can waste up to ten percent due to transmission line loss.  Distributed power generation also helps strengthen the power system and minimize outages.

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While most jurisdictions require that hazardous wastes like batteries and thermometers, be disposed of in controlled facilities, volatile substances still enter the primary waste streams and unfortunately end up in landfills and incinerators. In a conventional landfill these substances would slowly poison our land and water system.

The Plasco Conversion System is an efficient way to remove these hazardous substances that enter the waste stream and send them for controlled disposal in a hazardous waste facility. With a typical North American municipal waste stream, total heavy metals sent for disposal — including the activated carbon screen they are caught in — amount to about 1.3 kilograms for each tonne of municipal solid household waste processed. This represents about 0.2% of the waste that is processed. The other 99.8% of the waste is converted into electricity and other saleable products. These metals are not created by the Plasco Conversion System but are captured by the system to permit safe disposal.

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Processing waste through the Plasco Conversion System reduces greenhouse gas emissions in two ways.  First, it eliminates the methane that would form if the waste were landfilled — methane has a global warming potential 23 times that of CO₂.  For typical municipal solid waste, the greenhouse gas reductions due to methane elimination is about 1.5 tonnes CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e) per tonne of waste processed by our system when compared to landfill with no methane capture.

Second, power generated from our process displaces power from other sources, such as coal.  The Plasco Conversion System generates 1.2 MWh of power from each tonne of municipal waste.  In doing so 0.6 tonnes greenhouse gas are released.  A coal-fired power generation station releases 1.2 tonnes of greenhouse gas while producing the same amount of power.  That means displacing 1.2 MWh of coal-fired power generation with Plasco power reduces greenhouse gas emissions by about 0.6 tonnes.

Greenhouse gas reductions from displacement of methane and coal-fired power generation result in a combined reduction of 2.1 tonnes of CO₂e per tonne of waste processed.

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