AdaptiveArc Negative FAQ
Feedstock
Q. The market price of recyclable paper and cardboard has fallen dramatically leading to mountains of
stored product being stored at huge cost, Do you consider paper and cardboard as dry MSW as
presented on your energy balance spreadsheet?
R. Paper and cardboard would fall under the dry msw or paper pulp spreadsheet. I’m not sure you have
the paper pulp but its about the same as dry msw. Yes the market for cardboard was $40 a ton at the
end or 2008, in February it was $0 a ton. I think it’s back up to $10 - but still not worth the gas it costs
to transport it too the facilities. We are quite aware that people are stock piling cardboard.
Water Consumption
Q. How many liters of water is required in a 24 hour operational period to cool the gas.
R. We need a minimum of 65gallons to run the process. I would say if we have access to about
500gallons that would work great so we can clean the processor at the end of each day.
Q. Is the water toxic at the end of the daily cycle?
R. The water dirty water gets re-injected into the processor.
Q. What happens to the water at the end of the daily cycle?
R. See above!
Airborne Emissions
Q. Can you describe how EPA air quality requirements will be met specifically in the AdaptiveArc
processor not the industry wide norms.
R. Air emissions are divided into two different categories. EPA requires tests on about 200 airborne
compounds. You can read the results of those tests in the Mexico Pilot plant report. We tested 240
airborne emissions. 238 of them were below testable levels. The two that were detectable where lead
and mercury, but well within the EPA allowances.
The second emissions requirements will come from the Air Quality Boards (both regional and the
California Air Quality Board (CARB)). With these air boards they are primarily concerned with NOx,
SOx, PM, VOC’s, Dioxins, Furans, HC’s, HX’s, etc. These requirements will be based on emissions
from our diesel gen-set. They are concerned about combustion emissions and the only testable
standards are those associated with the diesel engines. Here we fall into a fraction of the allowable
emissions since syngas is a much cleaner burning fuel. In our deck you see the CA emissions vs. the
AArc emissions. Those are the average allowable emissions in the state of CA - you see that we are
far below the allowable levels.
Q. What emissions levels were observed during the pilot program
R. Check the deck or the pilot plant report - you can see our emission levels. The only emissions that
might really create an issue are NOx, where we are at about half the allowable level. Again we can
limit NOx using various alkaline additives other than lime.
Q. How much Carbon monoxide will escape from the feeder stack per daily cycle?
R. Not much carbon monoxide, but we will have carbon dioxide. I don’t know how much CO2 we will
emit. CO2 will be a fraction of normal methane release from waste so I believe any reduction we can
make in methane will offset our production of CO2. I believe I mentioned on a prior phone call that
most high CO2 producing industries use compressed air at the flue or stack to reduce the parts per
million count of CO2. This is standard practice in the industry.
Q. What timescale have you decided on to pass the California emissions standards
R. ASAP - if we can start testing late June/early July - then we have a 3 week test period. Submitting the
paperwork after the test results should take anywhere from 4-6 weeks depending on the air board.
Ash by product
Q. Will the Ash contain heavy metals such as Mercury and Cadmium and if not explain how they are
avoided
R. It contains heavy metals in an oxidized state which renders them inert. If we want the ash for
agricultural purposes, we will have to remove the heavy metals and salts. If we use it as fly ash for
cement, then we can leave metals and salts in the ash.
Q. Why can the Ash be used as fertilizer? What properties does it have
R. Ash has a lot of calcium (lime) or sodium (baking soda) in it. The alkalinity of it makes it valuable for
acidic reduction in soil. Acid soil is usually associated with tropical - non coastal areas. Areas near
the coast are normally alkaline and therefore would not benefit from our ash.
Q. What is the commercial value of the Ash residue in a 24 hour process cycle? Is it commercially viable
(how much per ton) or will it end up in the landfill
R. This depends on the location. In our Gilroy area most of the soil is fairly alkaline so there is not much
value in the fly ash we produce. In other areas in the midwest I hear it could fetch up to $10 per ton.
Cemex is the largest cement maker in the world. They have several plants in California and have
offered anywhere from $10-25 a ton depending on the location.
Electricity Generation
Q. What temperature must the syngas reach in order to be introduced into the generator engine.
R. The genset will operate best with gas temperatures between 80-200C.
Q. What happens to the carbon monoxide produced by the generator’s combustion process after it is
routed to the MSW feed pipe? Can it escape upwards if a vapor lock is not achieved or when the
reactor shuts down when you stop feeding it MSW and if so would it contain any hazardous
emissions?
R. Carbon Monoxide (CO) is not a combustion emission - that is one of the BTu carrying molecular
structures. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is a combustion emission. The main combustion emissions in our
process will be CO2 and H2O. They will escape out of the heat flue. The vapor lock will be achieved
whether the machine is on or off. It is created because the shredded waste will have a density a few
feet from the top of the drying column that is high enough to prevent emissions when the machine is
off.
Q. Can you describe the set of circumstances that would lead to a hazardous materials leakage and have
you developed any Standard operating procedures to mitigate this risk.
R. There are almost no circumstances that would lead to a hazardous leakage. Short of an “act of god
catastrophe” - in such cases the machine will shut down automatically. If there is a break in the syngas
production - whatever syngas is burnt by the generator. When the generator runs out of fuel (syngas) it
shuts down. If there is a break with the generator, then the power to the torches shut down and there is
no power to create syngas anymore. We use 2 syngas cleaners for redundancy, but if one of the
cleaners break, then lower volumes of syngas are produced, and the load on the genset drops
dramatically. So power output will be limited as will the amount of syngas being produced (since the
torches are running at lower power).
The system is designed to shut down automatically if there is a break anywhere in the system (which
could go a long way in areas prone to natural disaster, terrorism, etc.
General
Q. Can you give your views on using MSW for electricity generation and waste reduction techniques,
versus composting and recycling?
R. First off let me mention that our solution is not a replacement for recycling composting, etc. There is a
sustainability hierarchy that we must work towards. Our technology is an additional step in a waste
solution / sustainability hierarchy. Socially our top priority should be in reducing the amount of waste
we produce. Next we need to reuse as much of the waste as we create as possible. Then we need to
recycle as much material as possible. But after going through those three steps we are still left with
15-30% of waste that must be disposed of using alternative methods. Today those methods include
landfills, incinerators, ocean dumping, etc. That is the waste we are looking to process. We are not a
replacement for composting or recycling. But you can’t compost and recycle that remaining
“residual”. That’s our market.
Today waste is a difficult product to dispose of in sanitary / environmentally friendly manners. Our
technology will change this and turn that waste residual into a clean energy producing product.
In the future I believe waste will become more of a commodity as technologies like ours take root. So
it is important to diversify into other areas outside of waste. Biomass will be our largest form of
feedstock in years to come. This includes agricultural waste, green waste, genetically enhanced trees,
algae, etc. All various plant species that have been designed to produce energy (somewhat akin to
corn, sugar cane, ethanol). Our technology has already been validated by the US Department of
Energy as the “best available technology” for extracting the energy contained in biomass.
Q. How many kilograms or pounds of waste does the average US household of 2.3 persons generate per
day?
R. Average person produces 4.3lbs. per day. That’s about 9 lbs. per household or 4.3kg. per household.
Incidentally the US is not the largest waste producer per capita. The middle east including Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, etc. exceeds the US in terms of waste per person being produced.
Q. How long does it take to manufacture and burn in a torch
R. Manufacturing can happen in days right now - we built four torches in less than 72 hours. Burn in
period would probably be 50 hours, although that’s really only pertinent from a quality control
perspective.
Q. Do you plan to test the torches by running them for 24 hours non-stop or a longer period?
R. I don’t think we need to test the torches outside of the complete system. We are planning on burning
in each ce25 for about 50 hours before shipping it out. The torches will have a sufficient burn in
period during that 50 hour cycle.