ADVANCED PLASMA POWER FICHTNER

ADVANCED PLASMA POWER

PLASMA GASIFICATION
PROJECT
STAGE 4 VALIDATION REPORT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

For over thirty years, developers in various parts of the world have been trying to convert
waste derived fuels (RDF) into a gas that can be used as a fuel in a gas engine or gas
turbine, thus offering the prospect of improving the efficiency with which the thermal energy
in the waste is converted to electricity.

Building on their successful use of plasma gasification for the treatment of hazardous
residues, Tetronics have developed a process (the Gasplasma Process) for the production
from refuse derived fuel (RDF) of a synthetic fuel gas (syngas). The syngas production
process comprises two steps, a fluidised bed gasifier in which the volatile organic
compounds and the fixed carbon are converted to gas using a proportion of the thermal
energy in the waste and a plasma converter to complete the conversion of the complex
organics present in the gas to a fuel gas comprising primarily hydrogen, carbon monoxide,
carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

The process has been shown, through rigorous pilot plant trials at the Tetronics test facility,
to be capable of producing a gas which, subject to passing through further gas treatment
systems, should be suitable for use as a fuel in a gas engine. The process chemistry
involved in the Gasplasma process is well established, and the pilot plant trials were able to
demonstrate that, using an RDF with a specified range of properties, it is possible to predict
the range of input conditions for which the gas treatment system must be designed.

The use of single stage plasma gasification for the treatment of waste is not normally
economic due to the large amount of power required to convert RDF to a syngas. On the
other hand, the syngas produced by thermal gasifiers contains condensable organic
compounds which form tars when they cool and make the gas unsuitable, without complex
and expensive cleaning processes, for any application other than immediate combustion. In
applying the plasma technology principally to the gaseous products from the thermal
gasifier, Tetronics are able to achieve efficient cracking of the complex organics to the
primary syngas constituents whilst limiting the electrical energy demand of the process. The
resulting gas can then be treated and cooled without precipitating large quantities of liquid
condensate and solid tars. It is the presence of these precipitates which have been
frustrating the endeavours of developers for the past thirty years.

In preparing a syngas which remains a gas, even when cooled, Tetronics have overcome
the major obstacle to the use of waste gasification to power gas engines and gas turbines.

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From the data and analysis presented, it is also clear that the process produces a vitrified
residue with very low leaching properties making it suitable for inert landfill and more
suitable than the bench mark set by processed incinerator bottom ash for use as a
secondary aggregate.

Advanced Plasma Power (APP) is a company formed to commercialise the Tetronics

Gasplasma technology. In order to bring the Gasplasma technology to the market, it is
necessary to build a demonstration plant which operates under commercial circumstances
and which can be shown to potential clients. The plant will also be used to further refine and
improve the process and to gain experience in its continuous operation.

Advanced Plasma Power’s activities to date, which are the subject of this report, have been
to undertake sufficient process design to enable proposals to be obtained for the principal
process components and to develop predicted capital and operating costs for a
50,000 tonne per annum facility. Fichtner’s review of the project is limited to a process
building containing RDF reception and storage, the process and all ancillary equipment,
services and facilities to operate and maintain the Gasplasma plant. The project is not site
specific and external works are excluded.

The next stage will be to commission the necessary detailed engineering (including pre-
engineering from the suppliers selected under Stage 4) to enable priced proposals to be
obtained for every aspect of the project and also to enable technical, commercial and
contractual terms to be developed for each of the process and installation packages.

The Gasplasma process comprises the two-stage gasification system described above
followed by a number of systems to cool, clean and compress the gas prior to delivery to the
gas engines, These systems facilitate the efficient operation of the process and enable the
process to meet the regulatory requirements which would be applied to the facility. It was
not economically feasible to test these downstream systems in the Tetronics test facility.
However, each component of the system selected has a proven track record, albeit not in
this particular application.

During the technical review, Fichtner has reviewed proposals from component suppliers,
has examined the capital and operating cost estimates for the facility and has held
discussions with APP to clarify various matters.

APP have selected Jenbacher for the supply of the gas engine through Clarke Energy, a UK
Jenbacher agent and a supplier of generation sets for a wide range of applications from
natural gas CHP schemes to landfill gas generation stations. There are a number of gas
engine suppliers in the market, such as Caterpillar and Jenbacher, with a track record in
unusual gaseous fuels, including syngas, mainly from coal and biomass applications.
However, Jenbacher have probably the greatest experience in unusual gases and their
reference list includes the Thermoselect demonstration waste gasification process in Italy
and two Thermoselect waste gasification plants in Japan which have been in operation for
more than three years.

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With regards to establishing capital costs for major process equipment items, the approach
taken looks reasonable and detailed. Although a general layout and arrangement has been
developed, there is insufficient information available at this stage to be able to accurately
define and price all of the installation and erection activities. APP intend to focus on these
areas as priority items during the next stage of development and a contingency will be
applied to accommodate changes that might arise from the detailed engineering design and
possible increases in supplier prices as rigorous commercial terms are developed. It is also
possible that, during the detailed engineering phase, some savings might be generated.
One such saving would be the use of mild steel tubing clad with a corrosion resistant alloy in
the gas cooler rather than constructing the entire assembly from the expensive alloy
Sanicro 28 (as currently priced).

With respect to operating costs, we agree that the detailed calculations of consumables are
reasonable and also that basing the average annual maintenance on 3.5% of the capital
cost of the plant and equipment (including installation) is reasonable.

For the availability of the plant, a figure of 85% has been assumed which would be typical of
energy from waste plants. Whilst this is a reasonable objective, at least in the first two to
three years, there are likely to be some teething troubles. We would suggest a more
conservative figure of 80% be used for sensitivity analyses.

In a development process of this nature, there are inevitably uncertainties relating to the
scaling up of the process, the parts of the process which could not be tested at pilot plant
scale and the estimates of capital and operating costs.

The next stage of the project will involve the equipment suppliers in a funded engineering
exercise that will remove much of the remaining uncertainty and give a clear understanding
of the extent to which process performance can be underwritten by plant equipment
suppliers.

With respect to the selected processes, Fichtner has reviewed the documentation
associated with each process step, including an independent report by Cranfield
University on the selection of materials for the gas cooler and a Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD) study which was undertaken to assist in the development of an optimal
plasma converter design and our judgement is that the processes selected are
appropriate, that the elements proven in the pilot plant stage are capable of scaling up
and that each process stage should be capable of fulfilling its intended function.

Nick Gamble Tony Voong

Author Reviewer

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