U.S. Air Force Awards Plasma Gasification Contract

25 January 2012

The U.S. Air Force 1st Special Operations Civil Engineering Squadron has awarded a contract to Montreal based waste to energy plasma gasification specialist, PyroGenesis Canada, to operate and maintain its Plasma Resource Recovery System (PRRS) at the Air Force's base in Hurlburt Field, Florida.

According to the company, it designed and manufactured the PRRS, which uses plasma to convert waste to energy and usable products, and the new contract includes three sequential option periods and also requires the collection of operations data on the PRRS.

The first period of performance began in October last year and has a seven month duration. The second option period is five months and the third option period is for six months.

The company added that the total value of the contact is approximately $2.7 million and the system began operational testing at the Florida Air Force base late last year.

"This follow-on contract will help us to further validate our plasma technology in a commercial, land-based setting," explained P. Peter Pascali, president and chief executive officer of PyroGenesis.

According to the company, the Air Force required technology that could take unsorted waste directly from the garbage truck and be able to safely and efficiently transform it into useful products. 

PyroGenesis claimed that the Florida Air Force base's facility has the capacity to 10.5 ton (9.5 tonne) per day facility is a state-of the-art waste management and energy production system, designed to convert solid wastes into energy and reusable by-products.

Specifically, the company said that it combines the advanced processes of plasma gasification and vitrification into one system to further break down solid waste into molecular components for use as a fuel to an internal combustion engine to produce electricity.

The company also said that it believes the technology at the Hurlburt Field, Florida site to be the only operating commercial plasma gasification facility in North America that has successfully demonstrated the ability to convert unsorted municipal solid waste into electricity.

The plasma specialist added that the objective of the project will be to operate the PRRS system 24 hours a day, seven days a week in a continuous, cost-effective and efficient manner.


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