(EnergyAsia, July 16 2012, Monday) — Singapore-based Strategic Petroleum has launched what it claims to be the world’s first commercially viable system that simultaneously converts different types of waste-material feedstock into clean energy and water.

Using a proprietary molten metal gasification process, the company said its STX MultiFEEDTM system turns low-rank coal, biomass, landfill waste, shale oil, wood chips and rubber tires into synthesis gas (syngas) that can be used to generate electricity or converted into synthetic diesel.

Strategic Petroleum said the system is capable of treating and converting hazardous waste by-products such as biomedical waste, toxic materials and even radioactive waste into safe and stable granulated slag. Slag is a glass-like substance, another by-product of the process.

Feedstock material is fed into a furnace heated by a molten iron core, with temperatures within the furnace reaching 1,500 Celcius. At 800C, the resulting syngas, comprising carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen, is siphoned off for downstream application as it is a flammable, recyclable and an environmentally friendly source of energy.

According to Strategic Petroleum, an independent third party study commissioned in 2012 using industry recognised ANSYS systems engineering simulation has validated STX MultiFEEDTM with a machine safety factor between 5 to 7.5.

This exceeds the known industry benchmarks of 3 to 4, making STX MultiFEEDTM suitable for deployment in the major markets of the US and European Union.

The system has been designed to be highly portable and scalable to meet different client needs.

STX MultiFEEDTM is built into the standard 40-ft shipping containers, allowing it to be loaded and unloaded, stacked and transported efficiently to wherever it is needed.

The containers are mounted one on top of another and multiple containers can be fitted to handle larger waste loads if required, making it easy to construct the system.

Facilities in remote and hard-to-reach locations including offshore oil rigs, tanker ships, marine-based facilities can benefit from the system.

STX MultiFEEDTM is protected via a series of patents globally for its proprietary gasification processes, plant components and manufacturing methods.

Strategic Petroleum’s managing director, H.K. Gueh, said:

“STX MultiFEEDTM is uniquely positioned for the global power, water and materials processing markets. Our STX MultiFEEDTM system is a flexible plant that can be configured to generate energy, water or treat hazardous materials in a cost effective manner.

“We pride ourselves on the ability to subject every part of our technology to independent validation, to deliver the benefits of STX MultiFEEDTM worldwide, even our financial payback models are independently validated.”

Ivan Tan, the company’s Head of Business Development, said:

“To the best of our knowledge, there is currently no known system that we have heard of that is able to process different types of waste materials simultaneously and convert them into syngas on a commercially viable scale. No matter what the melting points and different physical states of the feedstock, our STX MultiFEEDTM system is able to efficiently produce the syngas.”

Strategic Petroleum said China’s First Qilin has commissioned to build a 50-metric ton per day STX MultiFEEDTM plant, the lowest feasible capacity capable of producing one megawatt of power a day using very low calorific high moisture feed.

Strategic Petroleum said it is in talks with several interested parties to construct its STX MultiFEEDTM system.