Project Phoenix

Project to take the actual and future trash into combustion to generate electricity and clean the ecosystem in Panamá and the rest of the world.

This project consists of the use of garbage as an energy source to generate electricity. It promotes recycling, cleaning the ecosystem, improving the health of the population, and the production of electricity and biogas.

    We seek to reduce air pollution, waste on the street, the use of fossil fuels, the use of landfills, and the contribution to climate change by converting all the garbage produced by each person into useful resources such as biofertilizers rich in nutrients, biogas, materials. for the construction and generation of electrical energy using thermo-valuation technology.

It consists of recovering the remaining energy from the waste and converting it through incineration into electricity for everyone.

    The plant will not pollute the environment because high-tech filters will be used to reduce harmful agents and greenhouse gases by 99.97%.

 Panama faces big problems with garbage and continues to get worse.

   On average, around 4,400 tons of garbage are generated daily, of which 52% of that garbage ends up in the largest landfill, El Cerro Patacón.

   The environmental damage that occurs, thanks to Cerro Patacón, pollutes the air in a diameter of 90 square kilometers; affecting the lower basin of the capital with waters that flow towards the water resources of the Panama Canal, and surface and underground waters by toxic leachates. This has seriously affected 53% of the population of Panama. Among the effects, we can mention respiratory, cognitive, psychological, emotional problems and the altered development of babies during pregnancy and childhood.

   We seek to solve the mishandling of garbage and employ a better system to reuse that garbage and provide benefits such as electricity.

  There are many adversities produced by the garbage in Panama. Approximately 53% of the population is seriously affected by the results of the mismanagement of garbage. Bad odors and methane produced by garbage fermentation are the triggers of many people acquiring illnesses, psychological and emotional problems, and malformations in the development of a baby.

  My solution is focused on three main points:

1. Prevent further contamination of the ecosystem
2. Exterminate all garbage accumulated in landfills
3. Prevent people from developing health issues derived from contamination.

  All this is in order to considerably reduce diseases, possible malformations, and the effects of climate change.

  Despite living in a world advanced in technology and economy, it is still not possible to provide electricity to people who lack this opportunity. This indispensable resource is the key for students to have a quality education.

  That is why I have a fourth objective, which is to produce electricity that would be generated from the garbage that people generate every day to give it to the homes with the most need, less developed provinces, rural areas, schools, and everyone who requires it. This will help society in many ways. Whether on the health or educational side.

  In 2020, we saw multiple health problems due to the pandemic where we can highlight the respiratory problems, which not only involved the coronavirus, but also the high levels of air pollution produced mostly by garbage. 

  Therefore, we researched deeply through the Internet in which we also found multiple interviews of people who suffered daily from the garbage in their neighborhoods, videos, national news, and articles that can demonstrate to us how worried this situation is, not only in our country but also in many parts of the world.

  To learn more about garbage management we have volunteered as well in a non-profit organization called Center for the Collection and Management of Recyclable Solid Waste (CAM). This is a center in which its objective is to recollect a quantity of garbage given from people and have greater control over it by implementing the recycling process. 

  Since our plan is related to reducing waste through the promotion of recycling, our volunteering at this organization has given us new perspectives and ideas such as how to deal with garbage (plastics, paper, cans, etc.) and where it can be used later. Through this volunteer experience, we can know organizations like this one can contribute to our plan for a better world.

   We chose the Concept because our project is in a state of development. Our country does not have a real plant that does this type of project due to the lack of technology and opportunity.

    Throughout our careful investigations, we have been able to investigate the records of how garbage has affected Panama in the last 60 years. Viewing a garbage system that has failed multiple times and caused large-scale contamination. 

   That is why we took the initiative to develop this project that can help our country (and even the world) and also benefit rural areas and schools that lack basic services. So far, we are in the process of partnering with organizations that can support our project and perhaps in the future, promote our project so that everyone can know about it.

 The technology we will use already exists but will be used in a new location. Basically, the core of the technology is burning residual waste. The process begins when the materials that can be recycled have been removed. Followed by burning the garbage. This would be the essential event for the production of heat and in such a way to boil the water that it would be inside several pipes that would be surrounding the boiler. The steam would be transported by another pipeline located near the boiler that will take it to the high and low-pressure turbine room that will be connected to an electric generator that produces alternating current electricity. The steam will turn into a liquid form in a condenser. The condenser will have its own closed-circuit connected to a water reserve and a river to facilitate the cooling of the steam. After the aforementioned processes, the water will return to the pipes that surround the boiler. The gas produced in the incineration will go through several filters that will clean the gas until only water vapor remains. Fly ash and bottom ash generated by the combustion are stored in the Plant. After strict regulatory inspection, the fly ash will go through the solidification and stabilization treatment process to meet all standards. The ash will be transferred to the landfill site for final disposal until a better application is found.

Our solution currently serves no one, but we plan to serve four million people with plans to expand and serve more than 100 million people. We want them to stop being affected by the large amounts of trash that surround the streets, landfills, and their lives in general. This problem causes serious damage to many aspects of each person.

We also want to provide electricity services to all people who require it and it would be a new source of electricity production to stop using fossil fuels and follow the 0% emissions plan by 2050.

Our impact goal is really significant. Seeing people suffer from health problems due to pollution is hard to digest. With our solution, we seek to reduce that contamination that is the result of the accumulation of garbage in landfills, streets, and mainly, the mismanagement of the sanitation authority.

If we give good usage to the garbage and not treat it as useless. Countries would progress faster than normal. This is because the population would not worry about diseases, odors, and above all, pollution caused by garbage. They would focus more on getting ahead because they have one less problem to solve.

Our solution would eliminate that problem for the population and provide help to each and every person. No more worrying about disease, no more trash problems in people's lives.

We plan to achieve our goal by empowering and stimulating stakeholders and community members to take action against the problem. Teaching and benefiting those who are willing to make the change. Spread the idea to the entire population and take action with the factory and over time the expected results will be achieved. It will provide a solution to each of the people.

The first indicator would be the increased volume of recycled trash of the people directly affected by Panama’s biggest landfill, Cerro Patacon. Through an ecological campaign, we could educate people on this topic so that they are the first responders to help reduce the trash that goes into this landfill and therefore set an example to the population of the capital with their actions. 

The second indicator would be the notable reduction of garbage dumped into the streets, rivers, and oceans that surround the country due to the incineration of garbage.

The third indicator would be the notable reduction of garbage dumped into the streets, rivers, and oceans that saturate the country due to the incineration of garbage and the transformation of it into electricity.

The fourth indicator would be the increase in quality of life of the communities directly affected by the Cerro Patacon Landfill, measuring various changes in employment, education, access to electricity, and therefore the internet.

The fifth indicator would be the reduction of pollution in the country by means of sensors to measure the concentration of polluting gases and particles.

The sixth indicator would be the growth of the rates of self-sustaining cities. This occurs by reusing the garbage that humans generate and then converting it into electricity. This would bring light to cities. It is like a continuous cycle that does not stop.

The seventh indicator would be the reduction of garbage in the main landfill of Panama, Cerro Patacón

The current barriers for us to accomplish our goals in the next year are: 

1. Insufficient funds for the construction of the waste-to-electricity plant since we are college students

2. Insufficient team members to implement the project in the country.

3. Insufficient technology in our country 

3.  Insufficient funds for salary, communication cost, etc. All members of the team are currently volunteering and using their personal resources. 

4. Legal Registration documents and office for the project and organization headquarter. 

5. Insufficient awareness of the problem.

6. High level of bureaucracy in the government.

Each member of our team studies in a specific field (Engineering, Physics, Marketing, Psychology) or works in a place that could be beneficial to our project. We’re still college students, but our knowledge and openness to challenges can lead us to fruitful work. We also have experiences with recycling and through our investigations, an upstanding project could be delivered to the world as a big change from this generation. 

As the team leader, Frank Hsieh, I’m currently a Physics student. Due to my spirit of research, I have a lot of knowledge on what I am interested in. It could be a garbage solution, blockchain, etc… I have lived in various sectors of Panama where I could see many shortcomings with the handling of the garbage. So I can deeply understand the problem and the behavior of people in response to the problem. I have the ability to analyze problems, ask a lot, investigate, think critically, and have a passion to help solve problems.

Samuel Carles is in preparation to be an environmental engineer who can help us a lot with environmental management and the creation of new technologies. He has a great ability to critically analyze things around him, risk-taker, good speaker, and is curious.

Susana Lao is currently a Marketing & Advertising student who can help us a lot with the economic, investigation, and promotion area. She is also volunteering in an international non-profit organization (education) which can raise awareness of this project to the world.

Tommy Chan is currently a Psychology student who can help us with analysis. As well as be aware of the adverse effect of contamination on the mental state and development of people. He shows good ability at teamwork.

We are not partnering with any organization at the current stage, but we are seeking to partner with some organizations for better research, development, and scalability results.