Growing awareness of the adverse environmental impact of most currently implemented MSW disposal methods, such as landfill and incineration, is resulting in increasingly stringent regulation aimed at controlling and minimizing environmental hazards such as atmospheric emissions, land pollution and surface and ground water pollution.

As a result, novel non-incineration thermal treatment technologies are being developed, aiming to improve on incineration’s poor environmental performance. Collectively known as NTTTs (New Thermal Treatment Technologies), these technologies often employ pyrolysis and/or gasification, combined with solid residue (ash) melting.

To achieve lesser environmental impact, most NTTT processes consist of two separate stages (gasification - melting) in the plant process flow, often requiring the use of additional fuel (liquid or gas) and also sacrificing some potential energy recovery capacity.

PGM, as applied to MSW achieves, due to its unique "One Step - One Reactor" concept, practically "zero" environmental impact with maximum energy recovery, all at lower investment and operating costs, compared with alternative methods.

Graph Comparing PGM and Incinerator Tipping Fees/Treatment Costs


A PGM commercial scale plant, is envisioned as a two to four line configuration facility, with treatment capacity of 20,000 to 100,000 tons per year.

The Syngas produced is combusted after cleaning in a Combined Cycle system comprised of a gas turbine genset, with the exhaust gases fed into a heat recovery steam generator supplying a steam turbine genset.This configuration achieves high thermal-to-electric energy conversion efficiency of 40% - 50%, compared to incineration or any other thermal treatment technology, based on oxidation of the generated gas, with only a Rankine Cycle power generation option achieving 18% - 22% efficiency.

The following table depicts the energy balance comparison of PGM technology, incineration and incineration with ash vitrification systems.