One of most exciting recycling inventions in many years is a Chinese invention for the conversion of waste plastic into petrol and diesel. It could be available here soon and would enable local communities to collect, convert and use their own fuel from waste.

Waste Plastic is a Scourge! Global production of plastics is approximately 100 million tonnes per annum growing at 5% pa, a high percentage of which ends up in landfills with only a fraction currently being either recovered or recycled. In 2001, waste plastic from packaging alone amounted to 1.8 million tonnes in the U.K. Only about 250,000 tonnes were recovered or recycled to produce bin-liners, carrier bags, fencing, garden furniture and other products.

Legislation in the European Union is driving an increase in the requirement to recycle or recover all forms of waste. In the last three years more plastic is being sent back into the plastics industry and a lot of it is exported. But it cannot be good for the environment to transport waste all around our roads or around the world when there is another solution.

Plastic can be taken back from whence it came: to oil - LOCALLY!

Environmental Technology Systems, Ltd is a U.K. company, incorporated in 2003, which now has the rights to acquire a proven Chinese technology to convert waste plastics into gasoline and diesel fuels which could significantly reduce the volume of waste plastics sent to landfill. Local plastic waste can be dealt with more locally and a product produced which no-one can argue has real value for local communities.

On average in the UK, an urban population of 100,000 will generate 3,000 tonnes of waste plastics per annum. Can Ireland be far off that mark? The balance goes to landfill and costs, charges and taxes are rising all the time and everywhere, landfill sites are running out. Landfill produces methane gas twenty-one times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide. In well-engineered landfills, the gas is collected and burned in gas engines to produce electric power, but some still escapes. This causes some damage to the environment but more importantly, it results in the loss of what is now, a potential resource.

But what about a continued supply? Surely if plastic is made from oil and oil is ‘running out’ plastic will become a thing of the past, so we’d still have a diminishing resource. ‘I think plastic is here to stay’, says British chemical engineer and environmentalist, John Griffiths of E.T.S. Ltd. ‘More of it may get recycled to the plastics industry but that will not be a show-stopper to this process as there’s a load of waste plastic that won’t be recycled.’ He continued, ‘It is the PET (bottles) and HDPE (gas mains) that get recycled, rather than being of use for fuel conversion.’

Mr Griffiths who has a list of degrees and experience longer than a pipeline, explains that contrary to popular perception, ‘Oil is not scarce, it will just cost [a lot] more to get at and process. There’s plenty about for many years and coal will become a source of plastics again as oil declines in 20-30 years.’

If you’re middle-aged, that doesn’t sound like a very long time, so we asked him if he thought old rubbish dumps would get raided if it proved a profitable supply-source for the now valuable plastic material! Bemused, he responded, ‘I doubt that landfills will be opened up again - not for the foreseeable future!’

But back to the technology: It is a timely answer to the dilemma posed by, on the one
hand, legislative pressure to recover/recycle and, on the other hand, the limitations in the market for recycling of waste plastics. The process converts the molecular structure of the hydrocarbons in waste plastics into a fuel oil. Standard petrochemical processing further separates the oil into transport-grade fuels of both gasoline and diesel. Alternatively, the fuel oil, without further processing, can be used to generate electricity. As the design of the conversion plant is modular, it can be located where the waste plastic arises. This avoids the need to transport waste over long distances - local treatment of local waste!

The plant design is all conventional, apart from the proprietary ‘reactor’. Each of the modules or vessels, uses a non-harmful ‘chemical reaction’ to convert the plastic. Called ‘reactors’ by the engineers, each would typically produce 2,000 tonnes per annum of fuel oil (roughly, half petrol and half diesel) from 2,740 tonnes of waste plastics. The balance is 410 tonnes of combustible gas which is used to provide heat for the process. The sole by-product is 330 tonnes of ‘slag’. Although this doesn’t sound too environmentally pleasant, it is their techy-term for what is simply an inert ash, a grey ‘cakey’ material which is the residue of any grubby bottles. This stuff is apparently quite harmless and may be suitable as an aggregate or even be land filled.

The process is continuous and can handle all plastics including PVC and no pre-sorting is required. The plastic is shredded prior to being passed into the feed-hopper and the process uses non-pressurised reactors running at moderate temperatures of 350 to 400 degrees centigrade. Through the process, the plastics “crack” into simpler molecules. These molecules are further re-shaped in a second smaller reactor, using a catalyst that makes the composition very much like petrol and diesel.

The near normal operational pressures allow for an inexpensive, conventional plant design with ‘low operating costs and high reliability’ - something we in Ireland would find reassuring!

Having concluded their agreements to acquire from the Chinese inventor, the patents and Intellectual Property Rights to manufacture and sell plants which convert waste plastics into fuels., E.T.S. will have exclusive rights world-wide. However, a licence in respect of China and South Korea will be given back to the inventors.

A major UK contractor has agreed to engineer the Chinese technology to meet Western environmental and safety standards and to build in automation, which of course they do not use in China, where labour is so inexpensive. The first production plant in the UK will be a reference installation which will enable process guarantees to be provided. In principle, the company has reached agreement with a UK waste-management company which will provide the waste-stream and the site for construction of the demonstration plant. The waste management company will, if required, be granted an option to purchase the demonstration plant after a period of satisfactory operation.

Environmental Technology Systems is considering an alternative approach (if sufficient finance was available), to build, own and operate plants under contracts with waste management companies and with others to dispose of their waste plastics at an agreed fee per tonne. E.T.S. would also be prepared to license third parties to build plants. They will also supply the catalyst to plant-operators.

The company is moving towards a listing on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and has employed consultants to aid in the facilitation of this. E.T.S., Ltd. believes there is a potential market in the UK and Ireland alone of more than fifty plants, of 6,000 tonnes per annum. The company has assessed they could build more then one hundred plants over a ten year period for the whole European market. ‘However, we also firmly believe that the technology represents a world-wide opportunity’, states John Griffiths.

With the present somewhat ludicrous situation of ‘Recycling Centres’ actually being mere collection centres for recyclable material, one wonders about the calculations on how much petrol and diesel is being burned to shift all these items hither and thither; from home to Recycling Centres and RC’s to wherever. But with the Chinese/E.T.S. solution, at least the transportation costs of waste plastics can be minimised.

Furthermore, one would hope that with a guarantee of no pollution, no particulates and no fumes to worry about, local concerns about such plants could be addressed simply by ensuring that local people were fully informed of the process as well as the siting, running and indeed landscaping of their local plant. The best size of plants in the UK and Irish markets will probably be three ‘reactor vessels’, producing 6,000 tonnes per annum of fuel oil, equivalent to 8,200 tonnes a year of waste plastics. For a plant to produce 6,000 tonnes per annum of fuel oil would require a site area of approximately 1000 square metres (20 x 50 metres) plus storage area for the product and the incoming plastic waste. ‘These plants can be easily accommodated in many locations’, John Griffiths informs us.

Six commercially operating plants have already been built in China. The technology has been reviewed by a major UK contractor which included an on-site inspection of the operating plants there. The contractor concluded that, “The technology processes a wide array of plastic waste-feedstock into final products that can be tailored to meet most conventional gasoline and diesel specifications. The Chinese inventor has received an international award for the process which has international patent coverage. So why have we not heard anything about it before? The ‘little and young’ Local Planet has been chuffed to be put at the very top of the list in getting this great news to its readers.

Who are ETS?

The ETS team comprises of Ken Ketteringham, Chairman; Ian McCubbin, Finance Director, and John Griffiths, Technical Director. All three are highly experienced individuals who have worked together on other energy-from-waste projects. The Chinese inventor of the technology, in addition to being a major shareholder of E.T.S., is also a Director. His expertise and that of his team of research scientists in China will be available to E.T.S. on an ongoing basis.

John Griffiths is a highly qualified chemical engineer. He operates as an independent consultant in the energy industries, particularly marine-based energy forms of all types, and in project/general management for various organisations. He has spent over ten years in the engineering and construction-contracting industry with two major firms. He was also Director of Engineering and IT for several years and served as a Board Director for part of that time.

John has chaired the Marine Foresight Panel’s Task Force on “Energies from the Sea” over the last two years. Following this he is increasingly involved in offshore renewable energy as well as some onshore renewables.

On the technical front, John Griffiths has visited the operating plants in China and he will be responsible, on behalf of E.T.S., for monitoring the performance of the contractor for the design and construction of the production plant. He will also be responsible for the engineering of commercial plants supplied to customers. John has a network of other engineers who will assist as the business grows.