Waste plastics made into diesel, gasoline

by Zac B. Sarian

Would you believe that waste plastics which are ordinarily a big problem to dispose can be converted into diesel and gasoline that can run engines?

The ordinary plastic materials include shopping bags, garbage bags and even styropor used in packing various products. All these can be converted into precious fuel that is 20 percent cheaper than the current price of diesel and gasoline.

The technology is newly patented and was one of those exhibited during the recent Inventors Week expo at the Philippine Trade Training Center along Roxas Blvd., Pasay City, under the auspices of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Holder of the patent which was released only last November 8 is inventor Jayme Navarro of Bacolod City. The waste plastics are converted into diesel and gasoline through what Navarro calls depolymerization of the materials. Assorted plastics are first shredded into evenly-sized pieces and then entered into an agglomeration chamber.

The shredded plastic enters a feeding screw where it is melted and the polymers are mixed with a catalyst. The melted plastic goes to a specially-designed pyrolysis chamber where depolymerization occurs, and where hydrocarbon gases are produced. It then passes through distillation (to separate different hydrocarbon chains), filtration and centrifuge (to remove contaminants and impurities).

Besides the gasoline and diesel, light gases are also produced which are purified, compressed and stored. These gases are used as fuel in the process of depolymerization.

Navarro said that the process is done entirely inside a vacuum so no resultant chemicals are released into the environment, The conversion efficiency rate is 75 to 80 percent, depending on feedstock components. That means it can produce 750 to 800 liters of fuel from one ton of raw materials.

Navarro said that he has been involved in the plastic industry in the last 30 years, using plastic scraps as feedstock in producing plastic twine, straw and stick. During the oil embargo in 1973, he started his first experiment in converting plastic waste to liquid hydrocarbons, and again during the first Iran-Iraq war in 1980.

However, because of the cheap price and abundant supply of crude oil during those years, it was not financially viable to pursue the project. He said that with the recent environmental issues regarding the disposal of waste plastics, and the high price of crude oil prompted him to develop his original technology of converting plastic waste into fuel.

Navarro said that after years of intense efforts in improving, refining and scaling the technology, he was able to conduct the first trial run of a prototype conversion plant that successfully produced liquid hydrocarbon in December 2007. Then in February 2008, he sent samples to the Department of Energy and DOST for analysis.

He said that the results confirmed that the fuel produced has all the properties of regular diesel fuel, but with substantially lowered sulfur contents, which means it is less polluting. The fuel can be used for different applications involving standard diesel engines.

Navarro revealed that his company, Poly-Green Technology and Resources, Inc., will put up a manufacturing plant in Montalban, Rizal early next year. The technology is modular in concept and may be developed in 5, 10 and 20 tons-per-day capacities. The operation can be carried out in smaller plants and processing may be situated wherever it is deemed feasible.

Source: Manila Bulletin, photo courtesy of http://globalplasticrecyclers.com, plc

The U.S. EPA has published a compliance assistance manual for biodiesel producers.

Published by the EPA’s Region 7 Biofuels Work Group, the manual titled “Environmental Laws Applicable to Construction and Operation of Biodiesel Production Facilities” provides information about federal environmental programs and the roles that federal, state, and local agencies play in relation to companies interested in designing, building, and operating biodiesel manufacturing facilities.

The publication addresses wastewater permits and spill prevention under the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act, air operating permits under the Clean Air Act, as well as hazardous waste management under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Pollution Prevention Act, and Toxic Substances Control Act. The manual also covers federal renewable fuels standard (RFS) program registration, renewable identification number (RIN) registration, blending, exporting, record-keeping requirements and the management of crude glycerin. The publication includes practical examples for complying with environmental regulations and includes a directory of key federal and state officials.

The manual is available online at: www.epa.gov/region07/priorities/agriculture/biodiesel_manual.pdf.

Photo courtesy of alibaba.com

U.K. researchers convert glycerin to methanol

By Ryan C. Christiansen

Isis Innovation Ltd., a technology transfer company that is wholly owned by the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, has patented a technology that uses a metal catalyst to convert glycerin into methanol. Glycerin, also called glycerol, is a byproduct of biodiesel production.

According to Edman Tsang, a researcher in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Oxford, the process works at a low temperature of 100 degrees Celsius (approximately 212 degrees Fahrenheit) and at 20 bars of pressure. The process produces only methanol and no byproducts.

Jamie Ferguson, a spokesperson for Isis Innovation, said the catalyst technology is a hydrogen reaction with glycerin. Previous studies showed that the main products from the hydrogenolysis of glycerin were propanediols and ethylene glycols, which are produced using the addition of hydrogen under relatively harsh conditions. However, Oxford researchers discovered a catalyst that—with the addition of hydrogen under relatively mild conditions—will completely break the carbon-carbon bonds within the glycerin, while keeping the carbon-oxygen bonds intact, which prevents hydrocarbon gases from being produced. The end product is methanol.

Here is the link to the full article.

Seaoil: local biofuel demand up by 2011

By Anna Valmero

Anticipating the growth in local demand for biofuel, Seaoil Philippines Inc. said it will increase its total number of filling stations from 114 to 500 units by 2011, an executive said.

Biofuel is an alternative fuel that blends natural substances like ethanol from sugar cane and coco methyl ester (CME) from coconut to regular gasoline and diesel.

Seaoil Philippines expects to grow their number of stations by 300 percent because of the anticipated increasing local demand following the signing of the Biofuels Act in 2006, which will become effective in February 2007, said Art Cruz, marketing director of Seaoil Philippines.

“The consumers are more mature than before in exploring alternatives available to them. The youth, which are more open-minded in trying the biofuel, is creating the growing demand for it,” he said.

The Biofuels Act mandates that 5 percent of the annual volume of gasoline fuel sold and distributed by each gasoline company in the country will comprise bioethanol. This will be required two years after the effectivity of the law or starting February 2009.

By February 2011, the Department of Energy will mandate the increase in blend to at least 10 percent bioethanol (E10). A blend of 1 percent coco methyl ester (CME) extracted has taken effect in 2007 for biodiesel and will increase to 2 percent within the next two years.

This year, Seaoil Philippines has conducted repiping of its biofuel distribution systems to eliminate localized corrosion from pipes, pumps and tanks, said Bernadette Raymundo, vice president of supply and QCPD.

The company has invested P15 million for the project, excluding the costs for the depot sites.

The company replaced underground G1 pipes of filling stations with flexy pipes of fluoropolymer base material (Polyvinylidene fluoride-PVDF) to prevent problems in chemical compatibility with the biofuel, said Raymundo.

Tanks especially for CME were not coated because coated tanks tend to peel as CME or ethanol penetrates the undercoat adhesion, she added.

“The repiping was done to prevent leaks in nearby water pipes to enter the biofuel storage,” said Raymundo.

She said any water in the biofuel tank can contaminate the solution. This can cause phase separation of water and ethanol from gasoline. Moisture in gas can emulsify, resulting to a product with hazy appearance.

In September, Raymundo presented Seaoil’s biofuel program at the 2008 Ethanol and Biofuels Asia Conference in Singapore.

The program, which includes practices in transport, handling, blending, storage and other operational concerns, was recognized as model for adoption in Southeast Asia.

“We are the only country in the Southeast Asia with a law on biofuels. This bodes well for the Philippines as it gives us three years advantage in refining the technology and its implementation. With further efforts for development, this creates opportunities for sustainable energy production and thus, achievement of national energy security,” said Cruz.

Biofuels bring other benefits aside from cheaper cost, greater engine efficiency from cleaner burn and less air pollution. “Adoption of biofuels will also create market opportunities for the local coconut and sugar cane industries,” said Cruz.

The upcoming Asian free trade will create surplus of global products in the local market, which can kill local industries if regulation of imported goods is not well implemented, said Cruz.

By tapping the sugarcane and coconut for the production of ethanol and CME, respectively, Cruz said they are creating alternative markets for and support sustainability of the two local industries.

In September 2007, the Department of Agriculture validated a total of 60,250 hectares of new sugarcane areas that can produce a combined 274 million liters of bioethanol, Raymundo said.

This volume, she said, can meet the requirement under the Biofuels Act on the blending of crop-based alternative fuels with gasoline by 2009.

She cited the Sugar Regulatory Administration identified the 60,250 hectares are on top of the existing 388,003 hectares of sugarcane farms that can meet the country's sugar requirements

Seaoil has introduced biofuel, specifically the ethanol blended (E10) gasoline, through its 50 local filling stations in August 2005.

Raymundo said marketing E10 a year earlier before the Act was signed was difficult.

They launched a massive campaign to address the resistance of motorists especially those with carbureted and older model vehicles.

“Our efforts to advocate the use of biofuels are gradually paying off,” said Raymundo. “Right now, countries are turning their attention to the Philippines as global biofuel supplier. Countries in Southeast Asia eye the Philippines as a model for starting and implementing a biofuel program.”

Seaoil Philippines has teamed up with national Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Agency of International Development, Sustainable Energy Development Program and Chemrez Technologies in promoting biofuels.

To build motorists’ confidence in biofuels, Seaoil inked an alliance with the Automobile Association of the Philippines in 2006. Up to this day, all cars racing in the Philippine Touring Car Championship run on Seaoil E10 fuels and drivers are impressed by the cleaner burn they get from E10.

“Biofuels are preparing the world for the inevitable depletion of petroleum resources,” said Cruz. “And the Philippines is in a good position to reap the benefits of this growing market.

Source: Inquirer.net

Myco-diesel

PARIS (AFP) — A reddish microbe found on the inside of a tree at a secret location in the rainforests of northern Patagonia could unlock the biofuel of the future, say scientists.

Its potential is so startling that the discoverers have coined the term "myco-diesel" -- a derivation of the word for fungus -- to describe the bouquet of hydrocarbons that it breathes.

"This is the only organism that has ever been shown to produce such an important combination of fuel substances," said Gary Strobel, a professor of biology at Montana State University.

"The fungus can even make these diesel compounds from cellulose, which would make it a better source of biofuel that anything we use at the moment."

The study appears on Tuesday in a peer-reviewed British journal, Microbiology.

Strobel, a 70-year-old veteran of the world's rainforests, told AFP that he came across Gliocladium roseum thanks to "two cases of serendipity. "

The first was in the late 1990s, when his team, working in Honduras, came across a previously unidentified fungus called Muscodor albus.

By sheer accident, they found that M. albus releases a powerful volatile -- meaning gassy -- antibiotic.

Intrigued by this, the team tested M. Albus on the ulmo tree, whose fibres are a known habitat for fungi, in the hope that this would show up a new fungus.

"Quite unexpectedly, G. roseum grew in the presence of these gases when almost all other fungi were killed. It was also making volatile antibiotics, " said Strobel.

"Then, when we examined the gas composition of G. roseum, we were totally surprised to learn that it was making a plethora of hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon derivatives. The results were totally unexpected and very exciting, and almost every hair on my arms stood on end."

Strobel's team put the G. roseum through its paces in the lab, growing it on an oatmeal-based jelly and on cellulose.

Extractor fans drew off the gases exuded by the fungus, and analysis showed that many of them were hydrocarbons, including at least eight compounds that are the most abundant ingredients in diesel.

Biofuels have been promoted as good alternatives to oil, which is sourced from politically volatile regions and is a major contributor to the greenhouse effect.

Plants store carbon from the atmosphere as a result of photosynthesis when they grow, and they release the carbon, as carbon dioxide (CO2), when they are burned.

Oil, though, comprises carbon that is stored underground. When it is burned the CO2 adds to the atmosphere.

One of the downsides of biofuels has been their impact on the world food market, because the present generation of fuels is derived from food crops that are grown on farmland.

Another avenue of exploration is in cheap, plentiful non-food fibrous plants and cellulose materials, such as switchgrass, wood chips and straw.

But these novel sources, hampered by costs and technical complications, are struggling to reach commercial scale.

"G. roseum can make myco-diesel directly from cellulose, the main compound found in plants and paper," said Strobel. "This means that if the fungus was used to make fuel a step in the production process could be skipped."

Instead of using farmland to grow biofuels, G. roseum could be grown in factories, like baker's yeast, and its gases siphoned off to be liquefied into fuel, he suggested.

Another alternative, he said, would be to strip out the enzyme-making genes from the fungus and use this to break down the cellulose to make the biodiesel.

Strobel said Montana State University had filed patents for the fungus, proceeds of which would be shared with local people.

G. roseum is a variant of a known fungus species called Gliocladium. "It might be" common in some forests, said Strobel.

Asked where the fungus had been found, he pointed to the experiences of the 1848 gold rush and said the location had to be protected: "The answer to that is, what if we pushed ourselves back about a hundred and fifty years and you heard a story about a guy finding gold out in California?"