Air Products To Build Gasification Unit

Air Products & Chemicals says it plans to build and operate the world’s largest energy-from-waste plant, using plasma gasification technology, near Billingham, England. The plant, which is set to start up in 2014, would be the first of its kind in the U.K. and have a capacity of about 50 MW. It would consume 350,000 metric tons of nonrecyclable waste, including household and industrial waste, each year. The gasification technology, which has been developed by Calgary, Alberta-based Alter NRG, involves exposing waste material to plasma torches in the presence of air or oxygen to create synthesis gas. Alter NRG’s process is flexible and can generate hydrogen and other chemicals and fuels, Air Products says.