Feasibility of Toxical Chemical Waste Processing in Large-Scale Solar Installations

Abstract

A new strategy for processing toxic chemical waste in large-scale solar concentration installations is discussed in which photon energy, process heat as well as solar generated hydrogen are essential elements. It includes the following steps: Instead of burning chemicals at high temperature which produces many additional toxic products, they are hydrogenated using solar hydrogen and solar process heat to yield energy-rich mineral oil and natural gas type products. Non-utilizable and toxic waste materials are conducted through a high temperature chimney of incoming concentrated, UV upgraded, solar radiation, where they are broken down to environmentally compatible products. Concepts from irreversible thermodynamics are used to underline the advantage of the proposed strategy. This Solar Chemical Recovery and Annihilation Project (SCRAP) will require long-term research and development, especially in the fields of high temperature-high photon density photochemical plasmas, of solar laser technology and frequency multiplication for UV enhancement of solar radiation as well as on hydrogenation catalysis.