Singapore recycling firm Wah & Hua is looking to convert waste plastic into biofuel, utilising Japanese technology already used in the city of Kitakyushu.  Meanwhile, in the UK, Cynar has developed a process to turn waste plastics into fuel and has awarded a US$11 million contract to Rockwell Automation to design and build a new end-of-life plastic to fuel conversion plant in Bristol. Singapore hosts Clean Enviro Summit and WasteMET as part of International Water Week in the first week of July this year. Read More

Clean Enviro Summit and WasteMET Asia will be held in association with Singapore International Water Week at Marina Bay Sands 1-4 July 2012) For more info go to http://cleanenvirosummit.sg

By Leonard Lim in The Straits Times (2 April 2012):

A Singapore delegation that visited Kitakyushu, a Japanese city known for its eco-friendly ways, has come back with ideas that could be applied here.

Among the 22-strong group is Ms Melissa Tan, a senior business manager at recycling firm Wah & Hua, who said: ‘Kitakyushu is already able to convert waste plastic into biofuel, and my company is now doing research and development into it.’

‘We exchanged pointers, and I’m getting a representative to come to my plant to see what other opportunities we can explore,’ she added.

‘Over there, they even recycle things like home appliances, whereas in other parts of the world, you would throw them away.’

Associate Professor Wang Jing-Yuan, director of the Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre in NTU

Led by Singapore Environment Institute director Ong Eng Kian, the delegation – comprising recycling industry representatives, academics, and National Environment Agency (NEA) and Spring Singapore staff – spent a week in Kitakyushu early last month.

Kitakyushu is one of 11 ‘Future City Model Projects’ in Japan, and a leader in using next-generation technologies and promoting eco-industry. In 2006, Time magazine called it a model city for environmental improvement.

Apart from discussions with city officials, the delegation also visited plants that recycle waste, from television sets to plastic drink bottles to paper.

The group held an industry forum and reunion last Friday at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to discuss business opportunities from that trip.

Many of the industry techniques remain trade secrets, but through conversations with the Japanese, friendships were forged and follow-up meetings arranged.

Other technologies that impressed the delegation: a Kitakyushu firm’s ability to separate industrial waste, analyse the moisture content and blend it into an ingredient for cement-making.

Ms Tan said Singapore does not recycle all of its industrial waste, with some portions that may be contaminated with, say, food, sent to the incinerator.

Mr Ong, who had contacted the Japanese to arrange the trip, stressed that any adoption of technology had to fit the Singapore context.

For instance, he was impressed with a waste-treatment gasification plasma plant that, unlike Singapore’s incineration plants, does not produce any bottom ash and is hence seen as cleaner.

But there is one drawback. It can handle only 900 tonnes of waste a day, compared with the Tuas South Incineration Plant’s 3,000 tonnes.

Japan’s strong recycling culture – an area Singapore is trying to build up – also impressed the delegation.

In 2010, Japan’s plastic recycling rate was 77 per cent.

Singapore’s national recycling rate was 59 per cent last year, and 57 per cent in 2009. The NEA has set targets of 65 per cent by 2020, and 70 per cent by 2030.

‘Over there, they even recycle things like home appliances, whereas in other parts of the world, you would throw them away,’ said Associate Professor Wang Jing-Yuan, director of the Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre in NTU, and a member of the delegation.

It boils down to continuing to instil in people that recycling is a basic social duty, said industry experts, though they admitted this would take time.

Mr Ong said: ‘I asked someone there how come he recycles and he replied simply, ‘My mother told me to.”

Source: www.straitstimes.com

Waste Plastic to Fuel Facility to be Built for SITA in Bristol

Waste Management World (28 March 2012):

London, UK based Cynar, which has developed a process to turn waste plastics into fuel, has awarded an $11 million contract to Rockwell Automation (to design and build a new end-of-life plastic to fuel conversion plant in Bristol, UK.

Rockwell said that the project is being carried out on behalf of SITA UK, Cynar’s customer and partner in the development.

According to Cynar its technology uses liquefaction, pyrolysis and distillation of plastics, and can handle almost all the End-of-Life-Plastic (ELP) that is currently being sent to landfill.

The company claimed that a major advantage of the process is its high efficiency, with each facility able to produce up to 19,000 litres of fuel from 20 tonnes of ELP.

Cynar said that the system consists of stock in-feed system, pyrolysis chambers, contactors, distillation, oil recovery line and syngas.

ELP is loaded via a hot-melt infeed system directly into main pyrolysis chamber and agitation commences to even the temperature and homogenise the feedstocks. Pyrolysis then begins and the plastic becomes a vapour. Non-plastic materials fall to the bottom of the chamber.

The vapour is converted into the various fractions in the distillation column and the distillates then pass into the recovery tanks. The Syngas is then diverted through a Scrubber before being sent back into the furnaces to heat the pyrolysis chambers.

The cleaned distillates are pumped to the storage tanks.

“Our technology represents a unique and profitable way to significantly decrease the amount of end-of-life plastics that are disposed in landfills and incinerators,” claimed Michael Murray, Cynar CEO and chairman.

Rockwell’s role in the project is to strengthen the technology by providing complete design, engineering life cycle maintenance, and local support.

“This agreement with Cynar demonstrates Rockwell Automation’s ability to deliver scalable, complex solutions on a global level. We’re pleased to work with Cynar in an industry that’s making the world more sustainable,” said Hedwig Maes, president of Rockwell Automation Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

“This win is significant for us in the waste to energy market,” explained Terry Gebert, vice president and general manager, Rockwell Automation Global Solutions.

“It includes the design and build of process skids, automation architecture, software, power control and engineering/startup services in one fully integrated solution, using the Rockwell Automation PlantPAx? process automation system,” he added.

Rockwell said that its team has worked with Cynar over the past two years developing the engineering, modularisation and process improvements of Cynar’s plastics to fuel conversion plant.

Cynar said that its first full scale plastic waste to fuel facility is operating in Ireland and that it has agreed an exclusive contract with SITA/Suez for a total of 10 plants.

Source: www.waste-management-world.com