|
Plastics to Energy
OVERVIEW
As a nation, our awareness of the limits of our natural resources has heightened
over the last two decades. We are more interested than ever in the cleanliness
of our air, rivers and streams, the amount of consumer packaging that is recycled
and the amount of material we put in landfills. Many of us dutifully put our
glass, aluminum, plastics, and newspapers out at the curb each week for collection
for recycling. How much of the consumer plastics are actually recycled? The
answer is, very little. The plastics pile up in separate sections of our
landfills because there has been no economically viable means to use them.
Is there an economically viable process to utilize the immense amount of
consumer plastics we generate each year? Yes, there is. The answer lies
in the chemical makeup of plastic. The economically valuable ingredient in
plastic is petroleum. Taking consumer plastics and breaking them down to
retrieve the petroleum yields fuel that can be used to run a small-scale electricity
generator or fuel that can be used to run a commercial diesel engine
(Plastics To Energy, PTE).
The process of converting consumer plastics into diesel grade fuel has been
demonstrated. Innoventor participated in a pyrolysis program with a Seattle,
WA based company conducting the trials. The technology is patented and
Innoventor is in the process of acquiring the patents from the inventor’s estate.
TECHNOLOGY DESCRIPTION
How would a production scale system work? A PTE system would be located at
the local landfill. As the recycling collection trucks roll in the plastics
are dumped into a large hopper as opposed to into the piles. These hoppers then
feed the plastics through a grinder to create small pieces of plastic. The
pieces are then fed into a thermalysis chamber where the plastics are converted
into diesel grade fuel and ash.
Once the plastic generated diesel fuel has been formed, it can be:
- A. Piped directly to a diesel generator. The electricity can then be
transmitted onto the local grid for the municipality.
- B. Cut with a % of Kerosene or Diesel #1 so that it can be used to run
commercial diesel engines.
MARKET POTENTIAL
Who benefits? The local municipality gets rid of their plastic in an
environmentally conscious manner and can buy electricity at cheaper rates or
sell its diesel fuel - a good return on investment in the PTE system. IRP
gets the sale of the PTE system and the cash stream from the municipality for
the electricity or the diesel fuel.
The Market
The total market is immense. In 2000, the American Plastics Council (APC)
reported that 1,511 million pounds of plastic bottles were collected for
recycling. Based on the thermalysis test results, 1 lb. of plastic
yields 0.14 gallons of fuel. One gallon of fuel contains about 111,350
Btu of energy, which can be converted to 15.8 kwh of electrical energy. So
the total PTE market based on 2000 can yield over 3 billion kwhr
(or alternatively 211,500 gallons of diesel fuel). This is enough energy to
power 300,000 households for a year, or a fleet of diesel engine powered vehicles.
The economics
The economics of the project can be portrayed in terms of the Missouri
landfill data from the Missouri APC. Missouri landfills collect 47,685
tons of plastic (both PET and HDPE plastics) per year. There are 26
landfills in Missouri, so the average landfill collects 1,834 tons per year.
The plastic from each landfill can provide enough energy to power 728 households
for a year. This is based on the average household usage of 900kw per
year. If disadvantaged households were targeted, with a lower average
yearly consumption of electricity, as many as 25% more households c
ould be served by PTE.
Additional economic benefit of the PTE solution comes in the form of
Renewable Portfolio Standards and Production Tax Credits. Many states are
passing Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) as incentives for green energy.
Energy Production Tax Credits are also available.
The initial target markets would be the ultra-environmentally
conscious municipalities. After establishing a foothold in the
business, the large, energy deficient metropolitan areas could be penetrated.
The development of the PTE system is planned in four phases. Phase
one is the development of a 100kw demonstrator unit. Phase two is
integration of the 100kw demonstrator unit through 100-hour tests. Phase
three is the scale-up of the 100kw unit to the full-scale 10Mw unit. Phase
four is the development of the 10Mw unit into a complete turn-key system compliant
with California EPA requirements.
Innoventor, Inc. is seeking funding for these four development phases:
- Phase I: 100kw demo unit: $1,000,000
- Phase II: 100-hour testing: $375,000
- Phase III: Scale-up to 10Mw: $2,500,000 (without generator system)
- Phase IV: Turn-key for CA EPA: $2,100,000
Total of $5,975,000 (without generator system)
PATENT STATUS
Application in process
|
