Today, most plastics are made exclusively from oil or other fossil fuel derivatives. In fact, around 4 percent of the world’s oil production is used as feedstock to make plastics, with a similar amount consumed as energy in the process.
Offering a potential solution is a company called NewLight Technologies which has produced a carbon negative plastic called AirCarbon. Instead of using oil, the input material is the methane emitted by sewage treatment plants, landfills, power plants, and other industrial sites. This process results in a useful product but also prevents methane from reaching the atmosphere and contributing to climate change.
According to NewLight, AirCarbon is the performance equivalent of a range of plastics that includes polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene. AirCarbon also lends itself to various manufacturing processes including extrusion, blown film, fibre spinning, and injection molding.
The computer manufacturer, Dell, has started to use AirCarbon for a pilot project to manufacture protective bags out of this oil-free plastic. Meanwhile, US telecommunications firm Sprint announced that it will launch an iPhone case based on the revolutionary plastic.
Newlight uses a biocatalyst to process the gases in a reactor, where the carbon is pulled out and rearranged into plastic polymers that can be used to make bags or other materials. The catalysts used with AirCarbon are 10 times more efficient than other solutions, making it an economic choice that is also carbon-negative (meaning it stores more carbon in the plastic than it generates during production). The process is independently verified to be carbon negative on a net basis by NSF Sustainability and Trucost.
For more details and videos see:
http://newlight.com/
http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/corp-comm/air-packaging
Showing posts with label Resources. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Resources. Show all posts
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Phosphorus Recycling
In the 20th century the three nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium have enabled agriculture to increase its productivity. This is usually represented by three numbers (for example, 19-12-5). We obtain nitrogen from the air, but we must mine phosphorus and potassium. The world has enough potassium to last several centuries. But phosphorus supplies may start running out in the near future.
The reserves of phosphorus aren't very evenly distributed. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest producer of phosphorus (after China), at 19 percent of the total, but 65 percent of that amount comes from a single source: pit mines near Tampa, which may not last more than a few decades. Meanwhile nearly 40 percent of global reserves are controlled by a single country, Morocco, sometimes referred to as the “Saudi Arabia of phosphorus.” Although Morocco is a stable, friendly nation, the imbalance makes phosphorus a geostrategic ticking time bomb.
The conventional phosphorus fertilizer production cycle is an energy-intensive process that releases greenhouse gases into the environment at every stage:
The reserves of phosphorus aren't very evenly distributed. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest producer of phosphorus (after China), at 19 percent of the total, but 65 percent of that amount comes from a single source: pit mines near Tampa, which may not last more than a few decades. Meanwhile nearly 40 percent of global reserves are controlled by a single country, Morocco, sometimes referred to as the “Saudi Arabia of phosphorus.” Although Morocco is a stable, friendly nation, the imbalance makes phosphorus a geostrategic ticking time bomb.
The conventional phosphorus fertilizer production cycle is an energy-intensive process that releases greenhouse gases into the environment at every stage:
- mining of phosphorus ore,
- concentration into phosphate rock,
- transportation from mine sites around the world,
- centralized manufacture into fertilizer, and
- transportation to customers.
A Solution
Our food contains the nutrients taken up by plants which we expel back in to the environment by our digestive systems and toilets. Whilst traditional sources from rocks are being depleted there is quite a lot of it in sewage treatment plants. Thames Water has installed new technology from Ostara in its Slough plant. It strips phosphorous from sewage water producing around 120 tonnes of fertiliser each year. The end result is a produce called Crystal Green.
- Waste water streams from municipal and industrial treatment facilities, rich in phosphorus and nitrogen, provide essential nutrient streams for the recovery technology.
- Fertilizer Production: Rather than view sewage as waste, the solution transforms waste water streams into a renewable resource, creating a planet-friendly fertilizer and saving millions in plant maintenance costs.
- Agriculture: Crystal Green is the world's first fertilizer made from a local, renewable resource. Suitable in horticultural, turf and agriculture, its slow-release formulation results in considerably less nutrient leaching and runoff.
- Food Consumption: The recovery technology is the ideal solution for growing urban areas where nutrient discharge limits become a challenge to meet in the face of rising volumes of waste water and associated costs.
- Environmental Impact: By reclaiming the nutrients in their municipal, industrial and livestock waste waters, most countries could actually become phosphorus-independent – and help protect water resources from these otherwise polluting nutrients.
Useful links for more information:
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