Overview
The Recovery 2.0 Thermal
Reduction
process converts mixed
wastestreams
on a
Mass Balance
basis into two intermediate process pathways consisting of
solid
and
gaseous phase
fractions.
The solid residual fraction (after SRF thermal reduction) may only account for less than 5% of the total output
depending on the consistency of the source feedstock.
The gaseous fraction generated from Solid Recovered Fuel
(SRF)
sourced from typical Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) may range from 75% to 95% of the output.
The typical moisture content of SRF may range from 15 to 30 % of the weight and food waste can contain greater that 50 % water.
The H2O content is converted into and included in the gaseous fraction.
The gas fraction typically expands from 1,00 to 2,000 times the volume from the original waste feedstock.
The challenge in the
gas phase
processing is managing the sheer volume of gas generated with the range of
temperatures and pressures.
Special precautions are required for the handling of those fractions that are toxic or are flammable in nature.
The typical historic Thermal Reduction method of Waste Recovery utilizes various forms of combustion.
The shortfall of these systems has been the under management of emissions or
the lack of accounting of total waste in and total product outputs.
Traditional energy from waste systems tend to focus mostly on the solid ash content and limiting toxic emission levels,
but the balance of the largely unaccounted for materials are released into the open atmosphere.
The Recovery 2.0 process embraces the
Mass Balance
approach of managing the total input and output equilibrium.
Combustion Free
options are available.
By utilizing a combination of
novel
and passive approaches to resource recovery that are
traditionally deemed as less efficient or not energy dense, we may be able to achieve neutral emission goals
with
Short Cycle Regeneration
methods.
Hydrocarbon Pipeline
Emissions generated from the
thermal reduction
unit are vented and contained within a Hydrocarbon working fluid pipeline.
The pipeline feeds the
Hot Gas Refining
process where the product charged working fluids are segregated and converted
into the desired output products.
If the chosen primary energy source produces Hydrocarbon Emissions,
those emissions may be merged directly into the product stream pipeline and fed into the Hot Gas Refining process.
Unlike traditional incineration or Energy from waste approaches,
The Recovery 2.0 process captures what would be flue gas and cooling tower emissions and
converts
them directly into
product outputs.
This process extracts value from the recovered resources while eliminating the undesirable emissions.
Waste Recovery Process
- Mixed Solid Wastes
Pathway Flow & Options
- Recovery 2.0 Overview
- Mass Balance
- Carbon Reality
- Combustion Free Concepts
- Mixed Waste Feedstocks
- Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF)
- Hydrocarbon Wastes
- Complex Materials
- Sludges and
Residues
- Thermal Reduction Process
- Gas Phase Processing
- Water Recovery
- Solid Fraction
- Elemental Carbon
- Inert Fraction
- Mineral Recovery
- Metal Recovery
Energy Sources
- Heat Sources
- Electricity
- Energy Storage
- Short Cycle Regeneration
- Energy Pathways
Waste Recovery Process
- Summary
Mixed Wastes
Waste Recovery is an
energy
intense process, a sustainable approach to treat waste as a resource with a goal of
recovering valuable materials while generating no undesirable emissions with a net zero energy processing cost.
The Novel Approach objective is to harvest sufficient concentrated solar energy to sustain around the clock operations.
While not attempting to address the issues of grid scale energy storage, we find ourselves focusing on the challenges of
intermittent off hour operating when choosing solar as a primary energy source.
CHNOPS - Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, Sulfur, these six elements make up 98% of living matter on Earth.
Typical
Hydrocarbon Waste Materials
generated from Municipal Solid Waste
(MSW)
in the form of Solid Recovered Fuel
(SRF)
contain complex Hydrocarbon molecules or long chain polymers.
The gas phase of the SRF thermal reduction process produces a mix of
Carbon, Hydrogen
and Oxygen typically
made up of approximately 95% of the volume with the remainder of all other gases and vapors combined totaling less than 5%.
The thermal reduction process breaks these into shorter chains or monomers and some prefer this
partial decomposition in order to selectively output a desired product.
Adding additional heat, dwell time or pressure to the thermal reduction process will promote a further or more
complete breakdown into simple elements.
For example hydrocarbon mixes may be reduced to produce elemental carbon and Hydrogen.
Hydrogen has a natural affinity to bind with Oxygen to form the stable compound of water.
Please also note that common solid wastes referred to as dry wastes contain a moisture content, that natural water content
along with the combination of wet organic materials add to the total yield of H2O.
Solid Fraction
The Thermal Reduction Process generates an intermediate stage output in the form of a solid fraction.
This solid fraction is comprised largely of
Elemental Carbon
and a mixed
Inert Fraction.
Elemental Carbon Fraction
Depending on the blend of raw input, the content in a common SRF feedstock will yield
carbon
as typically the most abundant component of the solid fraction.
Recovered Elemental Carbon is referred to by a variety of names by numerous different parties,
but terms such as biochar or carbon black are attempts to define the same element.
Inert Fraction
The Mixed inert materials consist of a
Mineral content
and directly recoverable
Metals
and a mix of strategic or critical
Trace Residue
materials.
Some of these materials may require
High Temperature Refining
or other specialty treatment to facilitate selective recovery.
Summary
While the resource recovery of Mixed Solid Wastes must deal with the management of all the complex elements contained,
the main focus of the Recovery 2.0 efforts will always revolve around the 3 predominant elements of Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen
and the energy required in their transition.
Mixed Hydrocarbon may be reduced to produce elemental carbon and Hydrogen.
Hydrogen has a natural affinity to bind with Oxygen to form the stable compound of water.
Thermal Reduction is dependant on heat as a driving energy force but it is in units of electricity that
are universally used as a common denominator to calculate process requirements and efficiency.
Recovery 2.0 = Carbon + Water + Electricity
