FEATURE ECO POWER


Turning waste plastic into hydrogen T


his follows the recent signature of the Protos site lease with Peel L&P and is


the first step to producing the engineering designs specific to this first site. W2T has the exclusive right to use


innovative technology that turns waste plastic into hydrogen, which can be used for transport fuel. This technology has the potential to not only create a green fuel, but to also clean up plastic from the oceans. W2T is the exclusive developer in the


UK and South East Asia, including Japan and South Korea, for the Powerhouse PLC DMG (distributes modular generation) for waste plastic to hydrogen and electricity. This technology is able to convert


unrecyclable plastic into high grade hydrogen for use as a transport fuel,


whilst also generating power for export by private wire or to the grid. The technology has been developed by


Powerhouse Energy over several years at the University of Chester Energy Centre. The plastics to hydrogen plant will be located at its 54 acre Protos site near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire. Waste2Tricity is fundraising and


currently in discussions with large institutional investors and hopes to expand across the UK for future projects, with a vision for it to be scaled out globally. Waste2Tricity’s chairman, John Hall says:


“We are excited to be the exclusive representative for the Powerhouse DMG system in a number of geographical regions, particularly in South East Asia


on switching the technology to allow it to produce hydrogen for use in a distributed hydrogen network, as well as syngas production for generating electricity. The engineering, procurement and


construction contract is in negotiation, and, subject to planning approval, the plant could be operational later this year.


Waste2Tricity waste2tricity.com


Waste2Tricity has signed an agreement with PowerHouse Energy for the rights to turn waste plastic into hydrogen technology


where 90 per cent of ocean plastic emanates from. Signing this agreement with PowerHouse Energy means this technology will soon be ready for a large scale roll out to eliminate the bulk of ocean plastics and making hydrogen the go-to fuel for the future.” The next stage of development will focus


BIOFUEL FOR AVIATION


Dean Hislop, managing director of sustainable jet fuel producer, Renovare Fuels, explains how biofuels are fostering change in aviation


A


eroplanes are expensive to keep and maintain – and every element of their


upkeep and repair is regulated, down to the very fluid that’s used to clean them. One area that’s placing pressure on


aviation procurement teams is emissions targets. According to the EU Commission, “By 2020, global international aviation emissions are projected to be around 70 per cent higher than in 2005 and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) forecasts that by 2050 they could grow by a further 300–700 per cent”.


An emissions trading scheme has been


used by the EU to offset emissions, but more needs to be done to move towards alternative aviation fuels. While biofuels offer a renewable alternative to traditional fuels, there are two main reasons why they have struggled to make commercial headway in recent years. The first problem is capacity and the second is stringent regulation. In terms of capacity, the issue is that there are currently no biofuel suppliers that can produce enough fuel at the volumes required to replace traditional fuel.


The second reason is that stringent


regulations currently act as a barrier to the adoption of biofuels. Under the revised ASTM aviation fuel standards, bioderived fuels can only be blended with, rather than entirely replace, conventional jet fuels. Conventional jet fuel meets the exacting


requirements for chemical composition, volatility, fluidity, combustion, corrosion, thermal stability, contaminants and additives. Any biofuels that want to compete need to be nearly chemically identical to these existing fuels. This is made difficult because certain types of naturally occurring hydrocarbon aromatics present in conventional fuels cannot be synthesised in most biofuels. After many years of development,


Renovare Fuels has developed a way of converting waste biomass into high grade hydrocarbon biofuel. This process of converting raw biogas uses a Fischer- Tropsch synthesis catalyst to produce a fuel that, when blended, is around 90 per cent identical to aviation fuel, while being completely carbon neutral. It also has an approved fuel certification


pathway as an aviation fuel under ASTM standard D7566, and with further development could well offer a ‘drop-in’ replacement for conventional jet fuel. It is awe-inspiring to see just how far


we’ve come on the journey to biofuels, and how soon this could become a commercial reality.


Renovare Fuels 26 SUMMER 2019 | ENERGY MANAGEMENT renovare-fuels.co.uk / ENERGYMANAGEMENT


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