Last week, I wrote about a windowfarming project that allows urban dwellers to grow their own produce while finding a use for plastic water bottles that otherwise make their way to landfills. . . of which only 4% is actually recycled.
This past Wednesday, D.C.-based company Envion announced a new use for plastic when it unveiled its new Oil Generator and fuel conversion technology. The company says the new technology and its $5 million plant will convert 6,000 tons of plastic into a million barrels of a 99% sediment-free oil product annually. The product can be blended with other components through additive treatment — then sold as gasoline, diesel, even jet fuel.
At the end of the day, the Envion process effectively converts plastic to fuel for about $10 a barrel.
But just how does Envion accomplish a process which entrepreneurs have been trying to improve for years?
The Envion Oil Generator converts plastic to oil by first heating the plastic in a system that allows for temperature control using infra-red energy. Envion's process results in a net gain of captured energy, due mostly to the generator's ability to remove hydrocarbons without using a catalyst or an open flame for heating. And 82% or the material that goes into the process is converted into fuel, compared to previous attempts at the same conversion process which resulted in a net loss of energy.
According to the company's website:
The Envion Oil GeneratorTM accepts PET, HDPE, LDPE/LLDPE, PP, PE, PS, PVC, and several other plastic types such as GPPS, EPS, HIPS, and PA. Based on 2007 EPA statistics, Envion's technology would have been able to accept from 60% to more than 80% of total plastic waste generated in the United States in that year.
The Envion oil to oil cycle presents us with the alternative that the world has been looking for. The choice is clear.
Envion's technology boasts the ability to produce three to five barrels of fuel per ton with a total electricity cost of 7 to 12 cents per gallon. There are also reports of an undisclosed company that has already agreed to buy Envion's final product to blend into vehicle fuel.
And in a country that produces more than 50 million tons of plastic waste each year, a company like Envion that is able to develop and enable technology to process this waste — let alone turn it into a material that we so covet — seems like a dream come true.
There's even a call for local involvement; residents who live close to the Envion Plant in Montgomery County, Maryland, are direct contributors to the plant. Locals are urged to bring trash, recyclables, even yard trim to the Montgomery County waste transfer station; Envion then sorts and chooses which materials it would like delivered to the plant to convert to fuel, giving Envion a free supply of waste and giving the community perhaps more incentive than just putting plastics and bags of leaves on our their curbs once weekly.
There is, of course, a healthy amount of skepticism regarding the concept of using fuel to produce fuel. It seems counterproductive to some who have also voiced concerns about heating plastics and the effect of this process on the environment.
One blogger commented: "This sounds very bad for the environment — there will be no need for alternative fuels or even energy efficient cars for years to come if they can start mining the landfills for cheap fuel. Burning oil is burning oil, no matter what the oil was before."
What happens to the stuff that doesn't become fuel in the process? Where does the runoff go? Envion executives predict they will have to close down the plant two to four times a year to clean out the sludge leftover after plastic turns to fuel. . . but they also mention the sludge can also be burned for energy as well. . . it just has a much lower value.
Envion seems to offer a bright solution for a country that produces in excess the very thing with which we can create a new fuel source; however it's important to keep our eye on the energy solution prize. The best solution to our energy problem is to get off the internal combustion train altogether. In order to enable a safer, cleaner transportation system, our focus for the future should be primarily on electric rail-focused mass transit and electric cars.
Brigid
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