Electric Comet wrote in
:

On Tue, 22 Sep 2015 15:55:25 +0000 (UTC)
John McCoy wrote:

That depends on your definition of "efficient". Plasma doesn't

i meant reducing the input into heat
incineration leaves more residuals and therefore it is less efficient

OK, you prove my point :-)

You're defining efficient as "produce the minimum amount of
residual for a given amount of input".

For power plants, a more common definition of efficient is
"produce the maximum amount of electricity for a given amount
of fuel". Plasma doesn't score all that well by that
definition.

appear to be cost-effective because of the high startup costs,

do you mean the bootstrap phase costs or the cost to create a facility

In that case I meant the cost to create the facility. I'm
not clear on why a plasma plant is a lot more expensive than
a simple incinerator, but they are.

and I doubt it's as energy efficient as incineration because
of the energy cost of generating the plasma. It is more

you mean generating the initial plasma environment i think
which i called the bootstrap phase above

Bootstrap is a misnomer, I think. There is a continuous energy
requirement to maintain the plasma. As far as I can see, the
energy required to create the plasma initially isn't particularly
larger compared to the running requirement. In both cases it's
fairly large compared to the energy output, altho it appears the
bigger the system the better the net output becomes.

efficient at converting the input into simple molecules (i.e.
not "messy"). I'd think plasma's future is in hazardous waste
treatment, more so than general power production.

seems that the austrians having been doing it for at least 7 years

For power, or for hazardous waste disposal? As I say, I think
that's where this technology shines, and for that purpose it's
fine if it's never more than break-even on energy output.

i know many places where they could mine the trash and i see that as
a good thing all around

Yes, that's true. Indeed, many landfills already have methane
extraction plants, which is burned for power; that's a form of
mining.

recall that we used to be cavalier about our hazardous waste and it
was buried in dirt and probably in now leaky drums

I think we're pretty much screwed on buried hazardous waste.
Once it starts leaking there's no alternative other than digging
up and cleaning thousands of tons of dirt, and that's never
going to be a net source of energy.

John