Ash Melting Project
| Project Name | Natural Resource Canada Ash Melting Project |
| Customer | Howe Sound Pulp and Paper (Howe Sound, BC) |
| Location | PyroGenesis Technology Demonstration Facility, Montreal, Québec |
| Delivery | March 2001 |
| Products/Services | PAGV, Development Services |
| Capacity | 50-100 kg/h |
| Feed | Industrial boilers and municipal incinerator ash |
| Energy | Syngas |
| Pyrogenesis Role | Design, Build and Test a pilot system for ash melting and energy recovery from carbon in ash |
| Other stakeholders | Natural Resources Canada (NRC) – Industrial Energy Research and Development (IERD) Program; Canadian National Research Council (CNRC) Industrial Research Application Program (IRAP) |
PyroGenesis designed and fabricated a plasma ash melting system. This system was operated successfully by the team for a period of 18 months in our Montreal Technology Demonstration Facility, at a processing capability (100 kg/h) well in excess of the original design capacity. The system has logged nearly 400 hours of operation and processed close to 20,000 kg of ash from boilers and incinerators, both fly ash and bottom ash.
The operation of the system demonstrated the ability of the technology to produce a non-leachable slag (typically several orders of magnitude below regulatory TCLP levels) and fuel gas (syngas) from the remaining fixed carbon in the ash. The vitrified products could be used as a construction material (e.g. aggregate or cement additives). This work ultimately led to the development of the company’s PRRS technology for waste-to-energy applications.