Overview of the AI Waste to Energy Product
The amphibious incinerator (A.I.) combines an environmentally friendly incineration technique and a proven desalination process on to a self-contained amphibious barge to produce electricity and fresh water from sea or dirty river water. At full capacity a twin unit, no larger than four tennis courts, provides up to 160 tonnes of fresh water per hour and two megawatts of electricity. Constructed in modules, the capacity of a plant can be increased to match the specific demand of any particular site.
The amphibious nature of the unit presents many attractive features. Being raft based the plant can be constructed in a shipyard thereby avoiding costly civil engineering on site. As incineration of waste at sea or on a river is now banned by international treaty the unit is moved by waterway to a suitable location and 'beached' in a relatively cheap enclosure or on a slipway where it operates as a land-based incinerator. If the unit has to be removed from its operational site this is possible by reversing the procedure of location.
The proximity of water ensures an adequate supply of raw water for the desalination plant plus the facility to dilute the saline effluent for return to the sea.
Fuel sources for the unit are varied and each will be optimised to meet the requirements of particular communities. Clinical, domestic and light industrial waste can be consumed where these have adequate calorific value to support combustion. Where locally collected waste has inadequate combustible content the incineration process can be achieved through the addition of rubber crumb, a by-product of tyre recycling. The waste stream for any particular plant will be established at the feasibility stage. The products of combustion (ash etc) are transferred by conveyor to barges, lorries or railway wagons for sale or disposal.
The A.I. which is a patented design, provides particular advantages to those coastal communities which may not have access to adequate electrical power and fresh water as it can help to ensure that the community becomes self-sufficient in these commodities. This can be achieved in an environmentally acceptable manner and a cost justifiable way from locally available waste and the virtually infinite salt water resources adjacent to the location of the A.I.
It is estimated that there are two billion scrap tyres already stockpiled and a further 250 million scrap tyres added each year. The possibility of spontaneous combustion of land-filled tyres is a significant problem as are the associated health risks. In addition, more than 500 million tonnes of accessible domestic and light industrial waste are created worldwide each year. This waste may be considered as a suitable fuel in many circumstances yet is frequently land-filled or left to rot in open sites. EU regulations now require member states to incinerate waste in a controlled and environmentally acceptable manner instead of land-filling and it is generally agreed that progressively similar pressures will be applied to non-EU countries.
The World Health Organisation reports that
- over one quarter of the world's population does not have enough fresh water
- 80% of the world's diseases are associated with inadequate water and poor sanitation
- over 100 million more people have to drink dirty water than 10 years ago
- over 25 million children under 5 years of age die each year from water-related diseases and
- in excess of one billion children have little or no access to safe water.
It is generally agreed that the provision of inexpensive, new or additional electric power to developing countries will significantly assist the industrial, commercial and domestic development of the area concerned. Locally available waste augmented where necessary by scrap tyres in the form of rubber crumb can be considered as the fuel suitable to provide the necessary thermal energy after incineration for the effective operation of the unit.
The outputs of electrical power and water by desalination from an A.I. can be determined for the particular needs of a community. Typically, an A.I. (a twin unit) burning 2.7 tonnes of scrap tyres per hour of calorific value 30MJ/kg will produce 2MW of electrical power and 160 tonnes per hour of fresh water by desalination. At a plant availability of 70% the output of fresh water would provide 20 litres (4.4 gallons) of water per day to each of 134,400 people. The quality of the water will far exceed WHO guidelines.
If less electrical power is required then the output of fresh water can be increased although the additional volume will not necessarily be on a pro-rata basis.
As the A.I. is of modular design a twin-stream unit will produce twice the output of a single-stream unit.
In those instances where the incineration of specific types of waste (e.g. clinical) is as important as the securing of electrical power and fresh water by desalination then a detailed specification of requirements will allow the electrical and fresh water outputs to be calculated from the waste sources available, against an agreed return on investment.