Question and Answers
A lot of people ask us about how we are different from other energy plants. Here are some of the questions we receive and their responses
- What is an Energy Conversion Plant?
Clever Power converts some of the chemical energy in the waste to hydrogen which is another form of more useful chemical energy. The by-products of the energy conversion plant are electrical power, waste heat (which need not be wasted), char and nutrient-rich ash.
Syn-gas is a mixture of H2, CO, H2O, CO2, CH4, N2 and tarry oils. The syn-gas is scrubbed in our patented process so that it burns extremely cleanly.
- Is the energy Conversion plant just another waste to energy project?
Clever Power believes in resource recovery, not just conversion, resources are recovered in our processes not destroyed. As part of the circular economy, we need to avoid waste, what we cannot recycle still needed to be treated as a resource. Clever Power can make a high value-added product from such post recycling waste whereas a traditional waste to energy plant cannot.
- Is using biomass sustainable?
That depends on if the rate of biomass collection is matched by the rate of regrowth. On a 2000 m2 domestic property in Medowie, NSW the rate of woody biomass generation over the last four years is estimated to have exceeded 1.2 tonne. No trees were chopped down, this rate only includes fallen branches and regular garden maintenance. So there is a great deal of biomass in communities everywhere which is thrown away each year without having to use food crop land or old-growth forest to supply the required biomass.
- Why is Clever Power focused on the biomass associated with waste?
Our domestic waste, post recycling, is one of the most concentrated forms of biomass collected each day. It typically is about 55 to 70% biomass. The biomass in waste has already been harvested and is mostly yard green waste, food scraps, crushed paper and soiled nappies. If this goes to landfill that biomass breaks down into humus, CO2 and methane.
Typically between 18% to 30% of the dry biomass end up as methane. Methane has a global warming potential 25 time that of CO2.
Clever Power seeks to reduce methane production from waste. Our goals are to treat this waste as a resource. Manage it to recover hydrogen, power, char and nutrients.
This has impactful environmental and financial benefits.
- Why are Clever Power’s Energy Conversion Plants so small compared to the traditional waste to energy plants in Europe?
The small size is due to Clever Power’s desire to focus processing on post recycling waste. There is generally less of this type of waste than general waste. Our goals are also to act locally and not move waste large distances.
This distributed form of waste management has a positive impact on local job creation. Also, a small amount of waste heat, say 5 to 10 MWt are more likely to find a beneficial use for drying, evaporation, distillation, heating and cooling compared to a much larger amount in a single location.
- How can you make hydrogen from woody waste?
Cellulose has the chemical formulae (C6H10O5)n. That is woody is about 6.2% hydrogen. When you heat wood in the absence of oxygen the simplified reaction is (C6H10O5)n + heat ®n(2C + 2C0 + CO2 + CH4 + 4H2 +H20). We can then blow steam over the char to initiate the reaction C + H20 ® C0+ H2. The process of course is very complex but the core science exists to initiate this conversion process.
- Is the renewable fraction of waste contaminated with non-renewable plastic?
Yes, there is typically 25% to 45% non-renewable expected in the waste.
However, at Clever Power we ask ourselves is it better to process this waste in an energy conversion plant or landfill? The clear answer is that it is significantly better to recover hydrogen, power, char and nutrients from that waste rather than put it in landfill. Landfill degrades our environment and communities.
In fact it is a better environmental outcome to stop this mix of renewable and non-renewable waste from being landfilled compared to running the energy conversion plant on 100% renewable biomass which was not destined for landfill.
That is; our goal is to keep the waste from going to landfill in the first place
- Is an Energy Conversion Plant cleaner than a Waste to Energy plant?
Yes, the patented energy conversion plant scrubbing system has emissions that are a very small fraction, much less than 10% of a traditional waste to energy plant.
- What are the solar panels doing on this plant if it is already making power?
Yes, the plant is a net exporter of power, so there is no direct need for solar energy.
However, Clever Power sees solar as complementary and supplementary to its process. It is complementary in that items of plant can be used throughout the day when there is excess solar energy. Compressing hydrogen for export is very power-intensive and should be done in the hours around mid-day.
The Energy Conversion Plant will also use batteries to smooth out the power balance.
