January 5, 2009

Indiana Residents Fight Plasma Arc Plant

Indiana residents in Anderson City are fighting a proposed high-temperature plasma arc plant because they say there is no information on whether or not that type of operation is safe, AP reports (via Chicago Tribune). Opponents say this will be the first such plant in the U.S.

The proposed park is being planned by PEAT International, which plans to destroy pharmaceutical, electronic, plastic and other waste at the site.

PEAT consultant Nelson Slavik told Chicago Tribune that plasma arc technology operates under high-temperatures in chambers with very little oxygen and is different from incineration which is a combustion process. He says cigarette smoke would be more toxic than the plant’s emissions.

Last November, the project was approved by Anderson’s Board of Zoning Appeals. But opponents later sued, claiming that a notice sent to locals about that hearing made no references to the proposed plasma plant.

In 2007, Dow Corning invested in a recycling system that uses a plasma gasification process to separate the waste material generated in the chlorosilanes manufacturing process into organic and chlorine parts.

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