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PYROLYSIS IN MICROWAVE-ASSISTED PROACTIVE REACTORS CAN SET THE FOUNDATIONS OF A PROFITABLE BIO-OIL INDUSTRY
-)SEEKING SOLUTIONS TO ENERGY CRISIS: CAN WASTE-TO-ENERGY TECHNOLOGY BE PROFITABLE?
The severe energy crisis that humanity has been experiencing in the last decade is becoming even more significant in the face of the global financial crisis. Today, oil and natural gas do account for an overwhelming 88% of the global energy needs; nuclear energy and other renewable energy sources make up the rest (12%). The price of an oil barrel has jumped up more than 500% over the last 15 years, from $25 USD/oil barrel in the early 90’s to $145 USD/oil barrel in August 2008, settling around $100 USD/barrel for the time being. The actual global production of around 80,000,000 barrels per day (an all-time high) is struggling to fulfill the global daily needs for oil and on that note it is widely expected that the global oil need will surpass the oil production by 2015, the price reaching $200 USD/barrel by 2020. Moreover as global oil reserves are predicted to wane quickly after 2050, the general opinion that the hydrocarbon-based fuels will be replaced any time soon by other energy forms is without merit.
Research in finding other energy forms is currently ongoing; however the most pragmatic solution to this problem is to find other ways of generating hydrocarbon fuel and in this respect, pyrolysis of biomass (including pyrolysis of urban waste) is an environmentally-friendly and potentially money-making solution that addresses both urban waste treatment and hydrocarbon fuel generation at the same time.
Due to high living standards in developed countries, the generation of urban waste has been increasing steadily over the past decades to reach not-seen-before levels of almost 1 ton waste/per person annually; countries like USA or EU have to deal with as much as 2-3 billion tons of urban waste on annual basis (including waste from agricultural and food industry).
This waste offers only limtted recycling potential: typically 25-30% of waste is made up of recyclables (glass, plastic, metal) and inert materials; the rest consists of unrecyclable organic materials/fibres.
Urban waste management is today a global problem which remains unsolved by existing waste management technologies including waste-to-energy incineration plants regardless of colossal investments to the tune of
tens of billions Euros/year. The waste-to-energy incinerators, advertised as an ecological solution are not economical not only because of low heating value of urban waste but also because of high carbon dioxide and other toxic gas emissions (including carcinogens) which increase substantially the cost of these systems. the operational cost of waste-to-energy incinerators is estimated to be around 150-200 € per ton waste incinerated. their normal lifespan is 20 years, whereas the profitability is very low: for every ton waste incinerated only 550-600 KWH is gained (30-35 €, already included in operational cost).
The other remaining conventional solution, the use of “landfills” is not only a very expensive solution (most
landfilling sites do have fees that go as high as 100-120 €/ton waste), but also one that causes sharp ecological problems because of unrestrained gas emissions which are as high as 6 m3 of carbon dioxide CO2 and methane CH4 per ton waste deposited.
DimitrisDear Sir,
Although you have made a marvelous explanation of the problem, you have not referred at all you proposed solution and your project idea. Due to the fact that we are very much interested in a project that gives solution to the biomass to energy generation, we would like to discuss it further and find the right consensus.
Please do not hesitate to contact us at dkouras@yahoo.com. We represent the Regional Cluster of Bioenergy and Environment of Western Macedonia (CluBE-http://pta.pdm.gr/biocluster/) focusing on innovation and industrial research in Europe wide projects.BR,
Dimitris
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