廢塑料變燃料？ 澳首批「環保」汽柴油上市
廢棄塑膠轉換成車用燃料。圖片提供：IGE。
這家工廠位於雪梨北方90公里遠的Berkeley Vale，將廢棄且無法回收的家用塑膠，運用專利的IGE5催化重組技術，製成柴油和汽油。日前第一批貨剛剛產出，製程還可提供工廠運作所需電力。
大量生產的關鍵：專利催化重組技術
負責製造的IGE公司執行長Bevan Dooley表示，「Berkeley Vale工廠預計在2016年6月期間，將營運量提升到每日最高200噸的產能，並且在結果完全符合澳洲燃料標準的條件下，2017年6月將累積生產達4900萬公升車用柴油，和1600萬公升汽油的產量。」
藉著IGE的專利技術，將切碎的廢塑膠在無氧環境下，熔成超過攝氏400℃的高溫熱氣流，使聚合物分解成較小分子，形成類似原油的氣體和液體，然後再將液體分餾成汽油、煤油和柴油等烴類供做燃料使用。投資該項技術的Foyson公司指出，「產出的車用燃料將經過獨立的測試和評估後使用。」
強調製程無毒 還可生產天然氣自用
IGE更聲稱，這項催化重組技術可以自產所需能源，也不會排放有害物質、製造噪音或其它可見問題。而Foyson常務董事Mike Palmer也補充道，「每日重組200噸燃料所產生的廢棄物僅僅少於1噸，而且這些廢棄物都是矽或砂石，沒有危害環境的物質。另外我們也生產天然氣，可以燃燒使用或轉賣給當地民眾。」
隨著預期產能從每日50噸大幅增加為200噸，IGE也順勢簽訂了兩份為期3年期限至2018年的塑料供給合約，並將增加3座生產模組供未來使用。該公司預估新生產模組的產能，將處理超過12萬6千噸的廢棄塑料，產生1億2千萬公升的車用燃料。
信不過塑膠回收機制 環團：可能摻雜質
不過，關懷這則消息的環保團體「全面環境中心」（Total Environment Centre）執行長Jeff Angel認為，「Berkeley Vale工廠的原料可能會混入可回收的塑料。」
對此，Palmer回應表示，「我們Berkeley Vale工廠95％的原料為不可回收塑膠，其中自然可能混入少量可回收塑膠，畢竟透過分類系統回收不能保證零失誤。」
Australia’s first commercial-scale plant to convert waste plastics to “road-ready” fuel has produced its first batch.
The facility will turn discarded non-recyclable household plastics into diesel, gasoline and the electricity needed to power the facility.
Foyson Resources is behind the new A$4 million facility at Berkeley Vale, about 90 kilometers north of Sydney on Australia’s east coast.
Based in North Sydney and publicly traded on the Australian Stock Exchange, Foyson Resources is engaged in the exploration and development of gold, copper, and molybdenum deposits in Papua New Guinea.
Integrated Green Energy Ltd, IGE, is constructing the facility, which uses IGE’s proprietary catalytic re-structuring technology.
This technology subjects shredded plastic to a high temperature heat stream – above 400 degrees Celsius – in the absence of oxygen. This causes the polymer to break down into smaller molecules, forming gas and liquids which resemble crude oil.
The liquids are fractionated into hydrocarbons in the form of gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuel.
The road-ready fuels that have been produced will be independently tested and evaluated, Foyson said in a statement May 18.
IGE chief executive Bevan Dooley says the Berkeley Vale Plant is scheduled to begin full production with 200 tonnes per day of waste plastics during June 2016.
Dooley expects that production in the year ending June 2017 will reach 49 million liters of on-road diesel and 16 million liters of petrol, all meeting Australian Fuel Standards.
IGE’s waste to energy technology is a self-powered process and produces no harmful emissions, significant noise or visual problems, the company says.
Foyson Managing Director Mike Palmer told the Australian Broadcasting Corp., “The 200 tonnes a day, we produce less than a ton of waste material and that waste material is essentially silica or sand, so there’s nothing environmentally unpleasant about that product. And we also produce natural gas, which we can either flare off or it itself can be sold to local energy consumers.”
But Jeff Angel, executive director of the environmental group Total Environment Centre, believes the needs of the Berkeley Vale plant will cut into the supply of recyclable plastics that could be turned into useful plastic items.
Palmer answers that 95 percent of the material to be processed at the Berkeley Vale facility will be non-recyclable plastic, with a small amount of recyclable plastic getting into the mix only because the waste sorting system is not perfect.
IGE has secured two contracts that will supply the plastic feedstock requirements of the Berkeley Vale plant for the first three years to June 2018, as throughput increases from 50 tonnes per day (tpd) to 200 tpd, by the scheduled installation of three more production modules.
IGE says the three additional plants will collectively process in excess of 126,000 tonnes of waste plastics – producing 120,000,000 liters of on-road fuels.
※ 全文及圖片詳見：ENS
