 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
AbstractA Swiss engineering company developed technologies to separate waste from households and industry into different fractions (plastic, wood, organic material) and transform it into liquid energy. To liquefy plastic and wood the same plant can be used. The payback period is very short as the energy recovery from waste is huge. A pilot plant exists. The company is looking for companies, e.g. active in the petrochemical field, which are interested in building and investing in a large scale plant.DetailsToday in most countries, the waste from household and industry is incinerated or dumped into landfills. With the technology and know-how developed by this Swiss company the waste is transformed into liquid energy such as fuel oil, methanol or diesel.First of all the waste is separated into its different fractions (plastic, wood and organic material) and purified. In a second step the waste is introduced in melt reactors (fig.). The reactors split the long-chain molecules in order to produce liquid fuels, which are further refined as necessary (similar to fuel oil) or converted into energy (in the form of electricity, thermal energy). The rest of the separated materials can be sold, depending on the type of recycling facilities available in the resource industries. The inert substances are brought to the landfill. In a plant 100’000-300’000 tons of waste can be processed per year however this can be adapted. Compared to existing technologies which run only for 3-4 weeks and have then to be stopped for cleaning issues, the developed technology runs continuously for several months. As the transformation of waste into energy is carried out very efficiently, the investment costs for the realisation of a plant will be recovered in a short time (2-3 years after bringing into service). From this moment on the plant will run with a high profit. A pilot plant exists and can be adapted to different needs. Innovative Aspects: - the waste is separated and converted into energy in a continuous process (runs for months) - to liquefy plastic and wood the same plant can be used - the payback period is very short as the energy recovery from waste is huge (2-3 years) - The system operates energy independently, producing excess energy and raw materials. The recovered raw materials can be re-used in the industry.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
