News

Talking Point: Tassie Waste System Worst in the Nation

LIKE clockwork, each week we line our streets with bins of stuff we don’t want, and each week the stuff is whisked away, out of sight, out of mind.

In functioning ecosystems one species’ waste is another’s nourishment, but nature can’t readily absorb what’s in our bins. So it tends to accumulate where it’s dumped, a practice we call landfill.

Landfill isn’t the most polluting thing we do to the planet – that honour must go to pumping greenhouse gases into the air – but it is the most visible sign of a chuck-and-forget mindset that’s a huge obstacle to sustainability.

Tribe Looking into Waste-to-Energy Program

A machine currently located at the Tribal Transfer Station off of Olivet Church Road looks like something out of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, but it is the future of waste disposal and energy production according to the Tribe’s energy program coordinator.

The machine is running a two-week demonstration of pyrolysis (thermal distillation) which converts recycled bottles, old tires and other waste into a synthesis gas known as Pyrogas. “This pyrolysis process has been around since World War II,” said Cameron Cooper, who garnered three grants from the Department of Energy and Mineral Development for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians totaling over $750,000 to study this process.

RUBBER RECYCLING: A GROWING INDUSTRY

After the scrap tire industry experienced a downturn in 2009 until 2011, there has been a resurgence of sorts for recyclers and end users alike.

According to Mike Hinsey, international vice president at Granutech Saturn Systems, domestically the tire recycling market is very mature with most established firms expanding capacity to meet growing demand.

“There is also growth in processing of the non-traditional tires, the large OTRs (over the roads),” Hinsey said. “To meet this demand in mining regions of the world, larger more powerful shredders are being produced.”

Merritt may lose biosolids processing plant to Hope

The president of a company looking to open and operate a state-of-the-art processing plant in Merritt that would break down biosolids into environmentally-friendly and profitable byproducts is considering halting negotiations and accepting an offer from the District of Hope to build the plant.

Last September, Kevin Hull, the president and CEO of Emergent Waste Solutions, met with Merritt city council, representatives from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) and five area First Nations bands to discuss his plan to operate a processing plant in Merritt.

Ahmedabad: It took six years and several trials to convince the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) of the environmental advantages of plasma pyrolysis – breaking down of biomedical and municipal solid waste by using plasma. The pyrolysis process breaks down any form of waste to water, carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methane. These gases can be harnessed to produce energy.

The MoEF has now included plasma pyrolysis as an accepted process of incineration and a few weeks ago brought out a gazette accepting the new process. There are in the country 11 such plasma pyrolysis facilities installed by the Facilitation Centre for Industrial Plasma Technologies (FCIPT), a division of the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) in Gandhinagar.

Punjab Okays Setting Up Of New Pyrolysis Plants In Notified Areas

Providing a relief to pyrolytic industry, the Punjab government – on the directions of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal – has allowed setting up of pyrolysis plants in the notified focal points, industrial areas and designated industrial land use areas in the state.

Disclosing this here on Monday, a spokesman said deputy chief minister had intervened in the matter to save the existing 50 pyrolytic industrial units, besides framing a new policy for setting up of new units.

After considering various environmental and legal issues and suggestions received from the public, its final policy got the approval from the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB).

Flash Pyrolysis Recycling Organic Waste, Tyres & Plastics into Oil at Basque Country University

The Department of Chemical Engineering of the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country has developed fundamental processes for producing raw materials and fuels using biowastes and tyres.

According to the university, the group led by Martín Olazar, a researcher in the UPV/EHU’s Department of Chemical Engineering, is studying the development of sustainable refineries where it is possible to produce fuels and raw materials providing an alternative to petroleum by using organic waste and other waste materials such as plastics, tyres, etc.

Bangladesh is producing around 18,144,000 litres of industrial fuel per year, worth US$ 9,072,000 to substitute furnace oil or industrial diesel by adopting pyrolysis technology to recycle around 50,400 tons of hazardous waste tires. Besides, 75 per cent toxic chemical, such as, cyanide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and products of butadiene and styrene emission in the air is reduced by using pyrolysis process rather than burning tires in the brick field or open air. The economy of Bangladesh is growing and thus there is a huge demand for energy along with raw materials, such as, carbon black and steel to enhance industrialisation. Waste tire is one of the key solutions for both power and raw materials. Experts say, using industrial fuel manufactured from waste tires produces lightly higher energy as burning oil, but 25 per cent more energy than burning coal.

Transparency Market Research has released a new market report titled, ‘Recycled Plastic & Plastic Waste to Oil Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth Trends and Forecast, 2016 – 2024’. The report defines and segments the recycled plastic and plastic waste to oil market, providing analysis and forecasts of the global revenue. According to the report, the global recycled plastic and plastic waste to oil market stood at US$542.8 million in 2014 and is likely to reach US$1971.4 million (US$1.97 billion) by 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 12.6% between 2016 and 2024.

The global recycled plastic and plastic waste to oil market has been broadly segmented on the basis of plastic type into polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polypropylene (PP), and other plastics (acrylic, polycarbonate, polylactic fibres, nylon, and fibreglass). On the basis of technology, the global recycled plastic and plastic waste to oil market has been segmented into pyrolysis, gasification and synthesis, and catalytic depolymerisation processes. The global recycled plastic and plastic waste to oil market has also been segmented on the basis on end-fuel into diesel, gasoline, kerosene, synthetic gases, and others.

Technology turns plastic into oil

Students and professors at University of North Carolina Wilmington have a small contraption that they believe can simultaneously solve environmental and economic issues by turning plastic, a pollutant, into oil, a commodity. Now, those involved with the project are working to convince local business leaders and government officials to implement the concept.

The piece of equipment is called a tabletop depolymerizer, and UNCW is the first university to receive one, said Scott Davis, Plastic Ocean Project business development intern. The college partnered on the research with national nonprofit Plastic Ocean Project and PK Clean, the makers of the technology.