Sewage-to-Power

Dr. Igor Matveev

Applied Plasma Technologies, LLC
International Plasma Technology Center, Corp.
(Non-Profit Corporation)
U.S.A.
www.plasmacombustion.com
www.plasmacombustion.org

Contents

Objectives
What resources do we have
What are we going to improve
Conventional sewage treatment
What do we offer
Power plant flow diagram
Plasma muffle
Modeling results
Prototypes
Torch in operation
Marketing aspects
Plan A

Objectives
The objective of sewage treatment is to produce a
disposable effluent without causing harm to the
surrounding environment, and prevent pollution.
Our objectives are all above + make the process
more compact and economically feasible through
production of fuel, electricity, heat, and fertilizer
from the abundant renewable energy source sewage sludge (SS).

What resources do we have?

53 million tones of sewage treated daily in the US
(60% of all produced sewage)
This contains 27,000 tones of biosolids with
calorific value 12 MJ/kg
If converted into electricity = 18,000 GWh per
year
Could provide electricity to 1.5 million people
Renewable and growing energy source

What are we going to improve?

Reduce de-watering expenses by 25-30%
Use sewage sludge with 30% water content as a
renewable feedstock for plasma gasification and syngas
production with H2 yield by 35 % vol.
Use syngas for energy efficient electricity and heat
production
10 tones of sewage sludge will provide from 7,2 to 12
MWh of clean electricity + 15 to 19 MWh of heat
daily
Switch sewage treatment ideology from power
consumption to power production
Show new opportunities for sewage treatment

Simplified process flow diagram for a typical large-scale

treatment plant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewage_treatment

Technical aspects of the Demo Unit

10 tons of SS treatment per day
Converts SS into syngas in a high efficient multistage plasma reactor with new RF plasma
Up to 85% thermal efficiency
Power production 3 to 5 times accedes power
consumption
SS could be blended with any in-situ hazardous
liquids, including used motor and transformer oil,
kitchen oil, etc.
Could be used for animal waste treatment

Flow Diagram of a Combined Cycle Power Plant with

Integrated Plasma Sludge Gasification

Sewage sludge power plant: 1 control system; 2 plate power module of the RF power source; 3 RF module; 4 RF plasma torch;
5 multi-stage sludge gasifier; 6 sludge blender and feeder; 7 air compressor for sludge atomizing; 8 synthesis gas storage tank;
9 (1), 9 (2), 9 (3) synthesis gas cooler; 10 fuel synthesis gas compressor; 11 gas turbine engine (GTE); 12 (1,2) power generators;
13 steam turbine (ST); 14 steam condenser; 15 hot well; 16 water treatment system; 17 (1,2) heat-recovery steam generators
(HRSG); 18 synthesis gas treatment module; 19 synthesis gas compressor; 20 oxygen production module. Working mediums: A
cooling water, B plasma gas; C sewage sludge; D air for gasification; E water steam for gasification; F atmospheric air; G fuel
synthesis gas; H GTE exhaust; J overheated water steam; L feed water HRSG; O purging oxygen; P fresh water; S synthesis gas
after the gasifier.

Plasma Muffle
US Patents 7,452,513 B2 and 7,955,567 B2

1 plasma generation module, 2,3,4 stages of the gasification module, 5 starting torch,
6 starting torch plume, 7 starting gas, 8 - starting gas vortex, 9 inductor, 10 plasmoid,
11 main plasma gas (air, oxygen, blends), 12 main gas reverse vortex, 13 feedstock 1
fraction 1, 14 - feedstock 1 flow,15 - feedstock 2 (optionally water steam), 16 feedstock 2
vortex, 17 feedstock 1 fraction 2, 18 feedstock 1 flow, 19 feedstock 2 fraction 2, 20
feedstock 1 fraction 3, 22 feedstock 1 fraction 3 flow, 23 - reaction products syngas.

Gasifier
Gasifier: 1 argon, 2 O2, 3
waste stream #1, 4 O2 for the first
gasification stage, 5 - waste stream
#2, 6 - O2
for the second
gasification stage, 7 hot water
output, 8 sewage, 9 syngas
output, 10 ash removal, 11 first
stage of the gasifire with integrated
plasma torch, 12 second stage of
the gasifier, 13 multi-sectional
heat exchanger (sewage or coal
sewage slurry pre-heater) with gassteam condenser and condensate
separator, 14 ash collector.

Commercially Available Plasma Products

Plan A

Establish international network of potential

customers and regional technology providers
Raise funds through the Plasma Fund,
customers, private/government sources
Develop and build 1 to 3 Demonstration Plants
in 2016-2017
Perform field tests
Merge Sewage Gasifier with a gas turbine
Start mass production of 10-15 TPD units
Scale-up to 100 TPD
Worldwide technology commercialization

Conclusions
First of a kind plasma system for such an exotic
application
New vision of the waste water treatment
Highly efficient
Significant environmental impact
Huge marketing potential
Flexible feedstock any liquid, including animal
waste, used motor and kitchen oil, hazardous
hydrocarbons

For questions, please contact:

Dr. Igor Matveev
President
International Plasma Technology Center
Phone: +1 703 340 5545
E-mail: ibmatveev@gmail.com
Skype: igmatveev
www.plasmacombustion.org
www.plasmacombustion.com