Process, Mass & Energy Balances

Reference 100 TPD design-basis summary

Step-by-step process narrative

1. Receiving. As-received MSW and permitted residues (WTE/coal ash, tires, plastics, WWTP sludge cake, wood) buffered.
2. Pregenesis™ (P1–P6). Hopper → shredder → tramp-iron magnet → hammermill → mixer → elevator. Product sized <50 mm and conditioned / dried using recovered steam; drying condensate routed to water processing.
3. Regenesis™ conversion. Prepared feed enters 4 × Recyclotron™ trains at ~550 °C, ~0.5 atm (sub-atmospheric), with steam and small N₂ purge. Catalytic activity is inherent to the metals + oxides in the ash / recirculated bottom solids matrix — no bespoke catalyst bed is loaded. Products: OmniCrude™ in two phases — vapor phase and combined solid phase (see OmniCrude™ callout above).
4. Hot solids / gas separation. Cyclones remove entrained solids from hot raw gas.
5. CRSRU (Carbon Recovery Syngas Reforming Unit). After the 4 Recyclotrons™ the plant splits into 2 vapor lines and 2 solid lines. One CRSRU sits in each vapor line (each vapor line combines the output of 2 Recyclotrons™), so the 100 TPD reference plant has 2 vapor lines and 2 CRSRU units in parallel. The 2 solid lines run in parallel through Regenesis MAX™ (see step 11). Plasma-driven reforming at 1,300–1,800 °C, no catalyst, followed by a quench boiler and a dedicated cyclone for pristine carbon recovery. Reforms residual CH₄, tars, and light hydrocarbons to H₂ + CO; pristine carbon extracted as a separate product stream.
6. Heat recovery & cooling. HRSG recovers heat; condenser cools gas from ~200 to ~40 °C.
7. Oil-water separation. Condensed liquids separated (≥ 15 min residence); process condensate to water treatment.
8. Water-gas shift. CO + H₂O → CO₂ + H₂ over Fe/Cr catalyst at ~250 °C (modeled ~75% CO conversion).
9. PSA gas cleanup / separation. Multi-bed PSA cascade (zeolite 5A + activated carbon) separates H₂, CO₂, CO/CH₄, N₂; tail gas recycled to reforming (design intent: zero vent).
10. Compression / storage. H₂ to 350 bar (Type-IV vessels — internal buffer feeding the Zero-E PowerBlock; H₂ is not a sold product); CO/CH₄ to 200 bar; N₂ to 10 bar; CO₂ liquefied (−20 °C, 20 barg).
11. Regenesis MAX™ refining. 2 solid lines in parallel (each fed by a pair of Recyclotrons™): char → carbon products (activated carbon, thermal black, graphite, CNT); ash → glass/mineral products and recovered metals (mini-EAF steel + hydrometallurgical non-ferrous); condensate → water plant → purified water + salt cake; aromatics distillation → benzene/toluene/xylene/heavy aromatics.
12. Closed-loop capture & reflow subsystem. Models capture and reflow of gas / particulate / liquid streams to enforce the circular design intent.

Recyclotron™ reaction chemistry — 17 coupled pathways (22 with conditional oxidation)

The Recyclotron™ supports up to 17 coupled, atom-balanced reaction pathways operating concurrently under its normal oxygen-starved regime, expanding to 22 when conditional oxidation pathways are included. These are grouped into four normally active reaction families, with oxidation as a fifth conditional family:

The pathways represent many faster plasma / radical elementary events rather than only 17 individual molecular collisions — they are the aggregate reaction channels that the concurrent chemistry runs through, atom-balanced across mass, species, and energy at the multiphysics ~2.5% deviation calibration.

Hydrogen generation architecture — three parallel pathways

Hydrogen production is not a single-stage extraction downstream. The ACM generates H₂ through three complementary in-process reactions:

1. Main Recyclotron™ — enhanced steam injection. Steam is injected into the Recyclotron™ at ~550 °C, driving both steam reformation and Water-Gas-Shift chemistry inside the primary conversion stage. This is the primary H₂ generation point, integrated into the 6–9 min Recyclotron™ residence.
2. CRSRU (Carbon Recovery Syngas Reforming Unit). One CRSRU per vapor line — each vapor line combines the full output of 2 Recyclotrons™, so the 100 TPD reference plant has 2 vapor lines and 2 CRSRU units in parallel. Operates at 1,300–1,800 °C, no catalyst, followed by quench boiler and a dedicated cyclone for pristine carbon recovery. Reforms residual CH₄, tars and light hydrocarbons to H₂ + CO. (The smaller downstream polisher MAX-CRK-003, 250 kW, is a separate light-hydrocarbon trim unit — see Q2.5b.)
3. Dedicated CO Water-Gas-Shift Module. The downstream Fe/Cr WGS reactor at ~250 °C completes the CO + H₂O → CO₂ + H₂ conversion (modeled ~75% CO conversion) before PSA separation.

Result: the 4–5 nines PSA H₂ output is fed by three sequential / parallel generation reactions, not a single-stage yield. This provides both design margin and operating flexibility to modulate H₂ throughput against feedstock chemistry variability.

A stamped, site-specific PFD / P&ID package for the deployment site is a project-engineering deliverable.

Boundary A — Recyclotron™ reactor core (closes to <0.01% in the model)

Steam and N₂ above are internal recycle streams (generated/recovered inside the plant), not fresh external inputs — see internal streams table below.

Internal recycle / circulating streams (mass-neutral — do not count as feed or product)

The steam loop is self-closing: 1,709.8 kg/h raised in HRSG is matched by 1,682.0 kg/h boiler feedwater plus the fraction chemically consumed / replenished by feedstock-borne moisture and internally recovered condensate. No external freshwater make-up is required.

Startup water: 2 tons of H₂

The ACM plant requires no external process water in continuous operation — all water is internally generated. Startup requires ~2 tons of H₂ as a one-time initial charge; burned in the PEM PowerBlock under 2 H₂ + O₂ → 2 H₂O stoichiometry, this generates ~17.9 tons of pristine water (2,000 kg H₂ × 8.94 kg H₂O/kg H₂). That charge becomes the recirculated internal water inventory (boiler feedwater, cooling, process condensate) from which all subsequent process water originates. Once running, the plant is water self-sufficient and net water-producing.

CRSRU plasma-N₂ loop — internal recycle, no external make-up

The repository's Plasma-Arc Cracker (MAX-CRK-003, 250 kW installed, ~0.5 TPD light-hydrocarbon duty) uses N₂ as plasma-forming gas. This circuit was absent from the connected process-stream table in earlier drafts; rates below are engineering estimates anchored to published N₂ thermal-plasma-torch data (specific enthalpy ~20–44 MJ/kg N₂ at ~40–75% torch thermal efficiency), to be replaced by the torch OEM's datasheet.

Consequence: the plasma-N₂ circuit is an internal recycle, not a new external feed. It adds ~10–15 kg/h to the internal circulating inventory and ~0 to the external site boundary, because the small seal/purge loss is covered by the plant's own PSA N₂ surplus (of which 15 kg/h is currently sold). This is why nitrogen — although real, and previously mis-stated as absent — does not open the whole-site balance.

Q2.8 — Recyclotron™-gate reconciliation target

The owner's capacity definition changes the interpretation of the 100 TPD number:

Recyclotron™ gate flow = fresh combined feed + all pre-gate reflows = 4,166.7 kg/h

The reconciled basis is: gate 4,166.7 kg/h = fresh feed 3,926.1 + susceptor reflow 240.6 (a physical stream: recirculated dried ash / bottom-solids make-up + remix particulates), with process water make-up of 317.0 kg/h drawn internally from Recombined Water — model v1.0 carried this line as external freshwater before the reuse loop was wired; the design basis routes it from the PEM loop, a FOAK metering item. Products total 4,242.6 kg/h = fresh 3,926.1 + internal water make-up 317.0, net of the 0.5 kg/h uncaptured APS output.

A previously quoted “~76 kg/h reflow” is retired: 317.0 (water make-up) − 240.6 (reflow) = 76.4 kg/h — a net bookkeeping artifact of collapsing two real streams into one, not a physical flow.

Under the corrected boundary (no external freshwater; startup H₂ generates all initial water), the whole-site closure requires the coupled Boundary C treatment (see below) — internally-generated water from feedstock moisture + PEM stoichiometry + captured atmospheric O₂ together close the algebraic balance.

Algebraically closed reconciliation with seeded APS efficiency:

This is an algebraically closed reconciliation target, not yet a metered stream ledger. It supports the owner's observation that approximately 200–241 kg/h of reflow was omitted from the capacity-gate interpretation. Reflow must not be added a second time at the external site boundary.

Coupled process + fuel-cell boundary closure (all 657.0 kg/h H₂ routes to the PowerBlock — H₂ is used internally, never sold):

The high water output does not create mass: 5,214.4 kg/h comes from atmospheric oxygen fixed by the PEM stoichiometry.

Candidate reflow streams crossing the gate (must be metered to prove which cross the gate without double counting):

Note: the 50 kg/h APS PSA-tail-gas record may be part of the separate 502.9 kg/h process-table PSA recycle. It must be counted once only. If that 50 kg/h record does not cross the gate or duplicates the process-table stream, the unquantified residual becomes approximately 75–80 kg/h, not 25–30 kg/h.

Boundary B — whole-plant external material boundary Model basis — disclosed & traced

Closure of Boundary B: external input 4,166.7 kg/h (MSW only — no external freshwater) vs sold output 3,585.6 kg/h ⇒ sold products fall short of external mass input by ~581 kg/h — net of two real, disclosed effects: 657.0 kg/h of internally-generated hydrogen retained on-site (combusted in the PEM PowerBlock, accounted separately at Boundary C) rather than crossing this boundary as a sold product, partially offset by a net +76.4 kg/h from the 317.0 kg/h internal water make-up drawn from Recombined Water exceeding the 240.6 kg/h susceptor reflow — two real streams, not a residual. Traced cause:

• Mineral-aggregate sender/receiver mismatch (dominant): S-MINERAL-AGG emitted at 280.4 kg/h to close its own ledger; glass module receives only 25.1 kg/h — 255.3 kg/h phantom emit.
• Carbon mineral-residue mismatch (partial offset): S-CRB-MINRES emitted at 23.5 kg/h, glass receives at 65.0 kg/h — +41.5 kg/h phantom receive.
• Net (~−213.8 kg/h) + per-module rounding (~27 kg/h) accounts for essentially all of the 240.6 kg/h residual.

This is a source-data bookkeeping inconsistency, not a physical leak. It is a real model gap for correction; the whole-plant balance is not yet bankable until the mineral-stream definitions are reconciled and validated at ASI SIT.

Boundary C — full site including PEM PowerBlock (fuel-cell water)

This is the boundary that explains the “+130–160%” observation. The PowerBlock consumes hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen and produces water:

2 H₂ + O₂ → 2 H₂O   (per kg H₂: ~7.94 kg O₂ in, ~8.94 kg H₂O out)

All on-site H₂ is routed to the PowerBlock — H₂ is used internally, never sold. Illustrative operating cases by PowerBlock load:

The repository's water_fc slate: Industrial-DI 25 + Semiconductor 6 + Ultra-pure 3 = 34 t/d ≈ 1,417 kg/h at 100 TPD as the recovered / sellable fraction. Remainder is available for internal reuse (boiler feedwater, cooling, process make-up) — a strong argument the plant is a net water producer.

Closure of Boundary C: the fuel-cell loop is mass-balanced in its own right (H₂ already inside the boundary + atmospheric O₂ in = fuel-cell water out). It does not fix or worsen the Boundary-B ~240.6 kg/h residual — the two are independent.

Per-tonne summary (direct answer to “for every 1 ton of feedstock”)

Bottom line: on the process boundary the model routes essentially all mass to products / treatment with a disclosed ~58 kg/t bookkeeping gap; on the full-site boundary the plant is a net water producer because atmospheric oxygen is fixed into fuel-cell water. “Waste” and “wastewater” quantities for a permit application must be defined against the final discharge route (see Q12).

Electrical consumption (modeled 100 TPD)

On-site generation & recovery (design intent)

• Electrical generation: design-intent PEM PowerBlock sized to total load × 1.15 (15% reserve) ⇒ gross design target ~8,756 kWe. This is a model closure rule, not an OEM guarantee.
• Hydrogen fuel available: process models 657 kg/h H₂ at the PowerBlock boundary in the H₂ MAX-leaning illustrative recipe — all of it consumed internally; H₂ is never sold. Design doctrine is net balance with a small surplus: the balanced recipe steers production to ~8–11 t/d (333–458 kg/h) against PowerBlock demand, with the H₂-rich recipe available as headroom for surge and high-power cases. At illustrative 50% conversion efficiency: ~457 kg/h H₂ covers the 7,614 kWe load; ~525 kg/h covers the 8,756 kWe gross target. The operating point between load cases is an internal allocation decision requiring OEM efficiency data and a reconciled operating case.
• Fuel-cell water (mass link to Q2 Boundary C): whatever H₂ is burned in the PowerBlock returns as water — ~8.94 kg H₂O per kg H₂, drawing ~7.94 kg atmospheric O₂ per kg H₂. At illustrative cases: ~4,085 kg/h (7,614 kWe), ~4,697 kg/h (8,756 kWe), up to ~6,204 kg/h if all 694 kg/h on-site H₂ is consumed. The repository's water_fc slate models 34 t/d (~1,417 kg/h) recovered / sellable fuel-cell water; the balance is available for internal reuse, making the site a net water producer.
• Heat recovery: heat-exchanger network models ~3,500 kWth to water plant (MED) and ~4,788 kWth surplus available for district heat.

Whole-facility energy-balance qualification Model basis — disclosed gap; resolved at SIT

Individual kWth annotations in the process table include feed / product lower-heating values and recovered heat. They must not be summed and described as independently generated net energy. A signed heat-and-material balance must reconcile feed LHV, electrical work, reaction duty, heat losses, internal recycles, recovered heat, and product LHV before the energy balance is treated as bankable.

To close this gap: commissioning + operating campaign with power metering + OEM PEM fuel-cell performance guarantee + integrated electrical/heat study reconciling generation, parasitic load, and internal H₂ allocation.

Design-basis operating conditions across the ACM-1 pyrolysis flow