Too Good to Burn - Recovering Valuable Materials from 'Unrecyclable Waste' instead of Incineration

AI Quick Summary

Our aim is to decarbonise the recycling of industrial waste and recover the contained critical materials at a profit. For this, we are advancing a carbon-neutral process for hydrocarbon waste treatment. Our innovative technology from EPFL, employs highly intense light to instantly convert waste hydrocarbons into valuable hydrogen and carbon black. Collaborating with HEIG-VD and industry partners, we are driving this transformative progress. Producing energy from waste in a carbon-neutral mannerProblem:Switzerland’s 2050 Climate Strategy shows that Swiss emissions are likely to be 11.8 million tons of CO2 equivalent in 2050 – emissions that are considered 'technically difficult to avoid'. About half of these emissions would need to get captured and transported to the North Sea for ultimate storage in the sea bed at a significant cost.The largest source of these captured emissions in 2050 is waste incineration, or about 2.6 million tons. The construction waste recycling contribute about 10-12% of these emissions when incinerated. Almost 74 million tons of waste is produced each year by construction activities. This material contains 15-25% of organic matter in the form of wood, plastics, asphalt, textile, etc. giving a large open window for energy recovery. A large part of these materials get recovered with current processes, however a significant part remains and subsequently incinerated. 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 resource recovery solution that would use this industrial waste as feedstock to produce energy-rich gases like hydrogen and methane, and carbon black, valuable chemicals and precursors for polymer production, but with substantially lower CO2 emissions. Similar to what sunlight does to plastics over many years, our technology achieves the breakdown of hydrocarbon 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 flashing" 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 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), as successfully demonstrated in our recent proof-of-concept studies.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 resource recovery solution, we can directly decarbonize the recycling of construction and demolition waste produced each year in Switzerland, with 25% recovered in form of carbon-neutral energy and the remaining 75% can be recovered and recycled by existing recycling plants. Additionally, we reduce dependence on the import of fossil fuels for energy security and chemical feedstock supply. This solution could be extended to solve the worldwide production of such waste.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 the Innobooster would allow us to conduct first study on processing the waste from construction related activities. In an 8-week project, we plan three work packages: 1) Test bench preparation at HEIG-VD at Yverdon, 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: Too Good to Burn - Recovering Valuable Materials from 'Unrecyclable Waste' instead of Incineration
• Date: 8/15/2023 9:24:51 PM
• Administrators:
  • Bhawna Nagar

Project Idea Description

Producing energy from waste in a carbon-neutral manner

Problem:

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

The largest source of these captured emissions in 2050 is waste incineration, or about 2.6 million tons. The construction waste recycling contribute about 10-12% of these emissions when incinerated. Almost 74 million tons of waste is produced each year by construction activities. This material contains 15-25% of organic matter in the form of wood, plastics, asphalt, textile, etc. giving a large open window for energy recovery. A large part of these materials get recovered with current processes, however a significant part remains and subsequently incinerated. 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 resource recovery solution that would use this industrial waste as feedstock to produce energy-rich gases like hydrogen and methane, and carbon black, valuable chemicals and precursors for polymer production, but with substantially lower CO2 emissions. Similar to what sunlight does to plastics over many years, our technology achieves the breakdown of hydrocarbon 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 flashing" 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 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), as successfully demonstrated in our recent proof-of-concept studies.

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 resource recovery solution, we can directly decarbonize the recycling of construction and demolition waste produced each year in Switzerland, with 25% recovered in form of carbon-neutral energy and the remaining 75% can be recovered and recycled by existing recycling plants. Additionally, we reduce dependence on the import of fossil fuels for energy security and chemical feedstock supply. This solution could be extended to solve the worldwide production of such waste.

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 the Innobooster would allow us to conduct first study on processing the waste from construction related activities. In an 8-week project, we plan three work packages: 1) Test bench preparation at HEIG-VD at Yverdon, 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.

Our aim is to decarbonise the recycling of industrial waste and recover the contained critical materials at a profit. For this, we are advancing a carbon-neutral process for hydrocarbon waste treatment. Our innovative technology from EPFL, employs highly intense light to instantly convert waste hydrocarbons into valuable hydrogen and carbon black. Collaborating with HEIG-VD and industry partners, we are driving this transformative progress.