Producing Energy from the Waste, but without the Emissions

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We are developing a solution to produce energy from industrial waste, but without carbon emissions. Our core technology for this is photo-pyrolysis, developed at EPFL, which we are developing further with HES-SO in conjunction with available industrial research for waste processing.Our target feedstock is the industrial waste generated during the recycling of cars - 55 thousand tons per year in Switzerland and responsible for 150 thousand tons of CO2 emissions per year when incinerated in KVAs. GrensolProducing energy from waste but without emissionsProblem:Switzerland’s 2050 Climate Strategy shows that the Swiss emissions are likely to be 11.8 million tons of CO2 equivalent in 2050 – emissions that are technically difficult to avoid. About half of these emissions would get captured and transported to the North Sea for ultimate storage in the sea bed at significant cost.The largest source of these captured emissions in 2050 is waste incineration (from KVAs). The residues from car recycling contribute about 2.5% of these emissions when disposed of in municipal waste incinerators. Almost 55 thousand tons are produced each year by Swiss recycling companies. This material contains ±75% plastics, ±13% metals (Fe, Al, Cu) and ±12% crushed glass and grit. This is a regulated waste which makes the disposal expensive and complicated. The trade-off would be to relocate these emissions from waste processing to other countries and continue business as usual by simply exporting this waste, but it defeats the point of global emissions reduction which is the core of the Paris Agreement.Solution:Grensol is building a Micro Site industrial solution that would use this industrial waste as feedstock to produce energy gases like hydrogen and methane, and solid carbon, but with negligible CO2 emissions. Similar to what sunlight does to plastics over many years, our technology achieves the breakdown of organics materials in seconds. Since these reactions occur in absence of atmospheric oxygen, hardly any CO2 or NOx is formed and released. Methane and similar hydrocarbons are captured as products. Hence, we are able to avoid emissions that are considered "technically difficult to avoid"!This solution is the integration of industrial research on waste streams and the research done by Prof. Hubert Girault’s group at EPFL. The core of our solution is "photonic curing" which occurs when high intensity while light is flashed on this waste. The energy released from this white light breaks the chemical bonds of the waste material on surface to release the gases and leaving behind a carbon residue. Any residual metals and materials are also recovered and sold to recyclers, thereby making this a zero-waste solution.Our Micro Site solution would also be about 20% lower cost vs carbon capture and storage and has a net-positive energy balance (energy content of recovered products less energy supplied as power for the process).In order to achieve this, in the last 9 months, we have put together a team of researchers who have been closely involved in the development of this technology and also of industry experience and project execution from large multinationals like BMW, Buehler, Dow, EuroChem, Glencore, Magna and McKinsey.Market Potential:With our Micro Site solution, we can directly decarbonize the disposal of 55 thousand tons of car recycling residues produced each year in Switzerland. Additionally, we reduce dependence on import of fossil fuels for energy security and chemical feedstock supply. This solution could be extended to solve the worldwide production of 20 million tons of these car recycling wastes produced each year.Other similar difficult to recycle wastes like low-grade electronic scrap and mixed polymer waste, that ends up in either Africa or Asia to be burnt in appalling conditions at the expense of human health and welfare, could also be processed in our solution. This equivalent Swiss production is 100 thousand tons per year as compared to the global production of 40 million tons. As a result, our solution reduces the emissions from the disposal of this waste in Switzerland and hence avoids the need for Carbon Capture and Sequestration by as much as about 7.5% or about 450 thousand tons CO2 equivalent per year by 2050. Since we will be sending lower volume of greenhouse gases from Switzerland to the North Sea now, we also reduce the risk of damage to the marine ecosystems and ocean acidification.How can the EnergyLab help us:The financial contribution from EnergyLab would allow us to conduct further process engineering on the waste produced when cars are recycled. In an 8-week project, we plan three work packages: 1) Test bench preparation at HES-SO (Energypolis, Sion), 2) Sample testing in an extensive campaign to determine product volumes and quality at different process parameters, and 3) Analysis and documentation of the testing program.Based on the newly-gained findings and test results in the three work packages, we plan to attract external capital and industrial partnerships with a further-developed business concept. Additionally, we want to establish new contacts with experts in the Swiss industry with the help of the EnergyLab ecosystem and thus gain further insights into the needs of potential customers and other stakeholders.

Project Idea Metadata

• Project Idea Name: Producing Energy from the Waste, but without the Emissions
• Date: 2/24/2023 4:36:39 PM
• Administrators:
  • Rajiv Singhal

Project Idea Description

Grensol

Producing energy from waste but without emissions

Problem:

Switzerland’s 2050 Climate Strategy shows that the Swiss emissions are likely to be 11.8 million tons of CO2 equivalent in 2050 – emissions that are technically difficult to avoid. About half of these emissions would get captured and transported to the North Sea for ultimate storage in the sea bed at significant cost.

The largest source of these captured emissions in 2050 is waste incineration (from KVAs). The residues from car recycling contribute about 2.5% of these emissions when disposed of in municipal waste incinerators. Almost 55 thousand tons are produced each year by Swiss recycling companies. This material contains ±75% plastics, ±13% metals (Fe, Al, Cu) and ±12% crushed glass and grit. This is a regulated waste which makes the disposal expensive and complicated. The trade-off would be to relocate these emissions from waste processing to other countries and continue business as usual by simply exporting this waste, but it defeats the point of global emissions reduction which is the core of the Paris Agreement.

Solution:

Grensol is building a Micro Site industrial solution that would use this industrial waste as feedstock to produce energy gases like hydrogen and methane, and solid carbon, but with negligible CO2 emissions. Similar to what sunlight does to plastics over many years, our technology achieves the breakdown of organics materials in seconds. Since these reactions occur in absence of atmospheric oxygen, hardly any CO2 or NOx is formed and released. Methane and similar hydrocarbons are captured as products. Hence, we are able to avoid emissions that are considered "technically difficult to avoid"!

This solution is the integration of industrial research on waste streams and the research done by Prof. Hubert Girault’s group at EPFL. The core of our solution is "photonic curing" which occurs when high intensity while light is flashed on this waste. The energy released from this white light breaks the chemical bonds of the waste material on surface to release the gases and leaving behind a carbon residue. Any residual metals and materials are also recovered and sold to recyclers, thereby making this a zero-waste solution.

Our Micro Site solution would also be about 20% lower cost vs carbon capture and storage and has a net-positive energy balance (energy content of recovered products less energy supplied as power for the process).

In order to achieve this, in the last 9 months, we have put together a team of researchers who have been closely involved in the development of this technology and also of industry experience and project execution from large multinationals like BMW, Buehler, Dow, EuroChem, Glencore, Magna and McKinsey.

Market Potential:

With our Micro Site solution, we can directly decarbonize the disposal of 55 thousand tons of car recycling residues produced each year in Switzerland. Additionally, we reduce dependence on import of fossil fuels for energy security and chemical feedstock supply. This solution could be extended to solve the worldwide production of 20 million tons of these car recycling wastes produced each year.

Other similar difficult to recycle wastes like low-grade electronic scrap and mixed polymer waste, that ends up in either Africa or Asia to be burnt in appalling conditions at the expense of human health and welfare, could also be processed in our solution. This equivalent Swiss production is 100 thousand tons per year as compared to the global production of 40 million tons.

As a result, our solution reduces the emissions from the disposal of this waste in Switzerland and hence avoids the need for Carbon Capture and Sequestration by as much as about 7.5% or about 450 thousand tons CO2 equivalent per year by 2050. Since we will be sending lower volume of greenhouse gases from Switzerland to the North Sea now, we also reduce the risk of damage to the marine ecosystems and ocean acidification.

How can the EnergyLab help us:

The financial contribution from EnergyLab would allow us to conduct further process engineering on the waste produced when cars are recycled. In an 8-week project, we plan three work packages: 1) Test bench preparation at HES-SO (Energypolis, Sion), 2) Sample testing in an extensive campaign to determine product volumes and quality at different process parameters, and 3) Analysis and documentation of the testing program.

Based on the newly-gained findings and test results in the three work packages, we plan to attract external capital and industrial partnerships with a further-developed business concept.

Additionally, we want to establish new contacts with experts in the Swiss industry with the help of the EnergyLab ecosystem and thus gain further insights into the needs of potential customers and other stakeholders.

We are developing a solution to produce energy from industrial waste, but without carbon emissions. Our core technology for this is photo-pyrolysis, developed at EPFL, which we are developing further with HES-SO in conjunction with available industrial research for waste processing.

Our target feedstock is the industrial waste generated during the recycling of cars - 55 thousand tons per year in Switzerland and responsible for 150 thousand tons of CO2 emissions per year when incinerated in KVAs.