Flameless Furnace Produces Cheap Power from Garbage and Other Rubbish

Abstract

A British engineer, Mr. Arnold Pearce, has developed a world‐beating process to obtain cheap power from burning domestic garbage, industrial wastes and other low grade materials. His ideas have been proved on a plant which has also produced energy from animal wastes, sewage, industrial effluents, waste oil, detergents, brown coal, waste paint and even ther ejected riddlings from conventional furnaces. By turning waste into a fuel the process will add significantly to world energy reserves which are running down as oilfields become exhausted. Also there are thousands of millions of tonnes of low‐grade fuels, such as peat, shale and lignite, throughout the world which can now become energy producing. Conversion of domestic garbage in the United Kingdom into useable energy would alone save the equivalent of some £200 million of oil imports each year. Mr. Pearce has won a world race to harness cheap energy from furnaces which burn without flame and which operate on aerated sand. In addition to power production the development will bring major environmental advantage. Because of its efficiency the furnace burns without smoke or smell and the invisible discharge from the stack is well below Clean Air Act requirements. It will also reduce health hazards arising from rubbish and toxic waste tips. Installations in ships will burn all oil sludge, sewage and kitchen waste, much of which is presently dumped into the sea and which pollutes the beaches.

Citation

(1979), "Flameless Furnace Produces Cheap Power from Garbage and Other Rubbish", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 51 No. 3, pp. 17-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb035520