Environmental Background Tetronics Environmental Plasma System Environmental Benefits TEPS Platform Technology TEPS Major Components

Environmental Background

Since the industrial revolution, mankind has continued to mine and extract the Earth’s natural resources at an increasing rate. In the drive for technological advancement little attention was given at that time to the long-term effects of such actions.

In recent decades there has been a growing consumer demand for new, improved, more desirable products. Industry has invested heavily in the technology, know-how and infrastructure with which to deliver these products to the market as quickly and as efficiently as possible. We now live in a throwaway society where it is significantly cheaper to buy new products rather than re-use or recycle existing products.

Today, in many instances once abundant resources are now notably depleted. The need to protect the Earth’s resources and ensure a healthy and stable environment for generations to come is becoming a global priority. The emphasis is on the conservation, reduction, re-use and recycling of resources

These broad aims are met through new initiatives such as ‘design for life’, ‘cradle to grave’ or ‘sustainable production’, which are aimed at:

  • Reducing the amount of resources used or waste created
  • Re-using materials and parts which previously were discarded
  • Reclaiming and recycling materials rather than disposing of them

A plasma arc waste treatment facilities can be co-located alongside an existing industrial installation, subject to site survey, thus helping to reduce the number of vehicle journeys required, their resultant pollution and impact on local communities.

Industry is being encouraged to develop new practices and techniques to ensure that it meets, and works within, strict new national regulations, taxation mechanisms, Directives and reduction targets. These are driving the need for the adoption of innovative sustainable waste management techniques such plasma based technologies.

Tetronics has already developed a platform technology that has demonstrated commercially that it can reduce, re-use and recycle materials from various sectors including the oil and gas, metallurgical, municipal waste, automotive and steel industries.

Tetronics Environmental Plasma System

Process Characteristics

The core of the Tetronics Environmental Plasma System (TEPS) is the plasma furnace, which generates a high temperature controlled environment into which the waste is delivered and processed.

Environmental Benefits

The driving force behind the development of TEPS has been the clear environmental advantages it provides over competing technologies, eg:

  • TEPS has in-built flexibility to enable the processing of numerous waste streams including organic and inorganic solids, liquids and gases
  • High temperature and UV intensity of the plasma ensures the rapid and effective destruction of toxic persistent organics to comply with the most stringent emission standards
  • The vitrified end product has low leachability of hazardous species, exceeding the international leaching test criteria for inert and non-hazardous waste
  • The exhaust gases generated are low in volume as TEPS operates in starved oxygen conditions
  • The vitrified product is substantially reduced in volume compared to the waste feed material and has performs to product quality standards.
  • The footprint of a typical plasma arc treatment plant is small; in the order of 30 m x 60 m.

TEPS Platform Technology

The TEPS system has been specifically designed on a modular basis for flexibility. With adjustments to one or two key sub-systems a wide array of wastes can be treated including:

  • The vitrification of municipal solid waste incinerator fly ash and / or Air  Pollution Control (APC) residues to reduce and minimise the amount of waste sent to landfill; the vitrified product is then capable of being used as an aggregate
  • Hazardous wastes including amongst others, tars, oily sludges (tank bottoms and interceptor tanks).
  • The processing of heavily contaminated materials, containing persistent  organic pollutants (POPs), (e.g. PCBs and DDT), heavy metals and hexavalent chromium
  • The treatment or recovery of Inorganic waste such as Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) dusts and fibrous materials such as asbestos and Refractory Ceramic Fibres (RCF)
  • The smelting of Electric Arc Furnace steel dusts to reclaim valuable metals and to re-use them within the steel making process. This process in itself can result in a significant reduction in energy input requirements
  • The treatment of used catalysts to recover and recycle  the Platinum Group Metals (PGMs), Precious Metals (PMs) and base metal values.
  • Low level and Intermediate level radioactive waste from nuclear establishments
  • Infected or diseased animal waste: Specific Risk Material (SRM)

Always striving to improve and extend our technology, Tetronics has demonstrated that plasma offers an economically viable, clean thermal technology for the 21st Century.

TEPS Major Components

  • Feed System to handle gases, solids and liquids
  • Plasma Torch or Electrode
  • Process Furnace / Chamber
  • Slag removal System
  • Thermal Oxidiser
  • Gas Scrubber
  • Energy Recovery
  • Control System
  • Power Supply
  • Water Supply

The feed reception, storage and preparation areas will be designed on a case by case basis as will the site engineering and service required.

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