Revolutionizing Plastic Waste Management: Jura’s Innovative Fuel Production from Old Packaging

2023-07-11 18:07:11

In the Jura, a company aims to make fuel with old packaging, which might be a solution for managing plastic waste. The technique is not new, but it is timely in the face of the climate emergency. Something to attract the attention of southern countries.

The Jura start-up HVO designs pyrolysis machines, which will heat the long molecules of plastic to break them, then recombine them into different fuels and obtain enough to run an engine. Plastics normally destined for incineration will thus have a new life.

Samuel Moussa, technical director of HVO, details in Tuesday’s 12:45 p.m. the operation of the chemical process: “Here I will recombine the carbon and the hydrogen to have different fractions. The lighter fractions will go to the bottom of the condenser, and the heaviest fractions start to come out. We then have paraffin, diesel, kerosene and in the end we get gasoline.”

Eliminate plastic pollution

The technique has been known for a long time but this new version is autonomous and promises significant returns. This is enough to meet the challenge of pollution, especially in developing countries, which are suffocating under waste.

Claude Etique, entrepreneur, explains the interest of having mobile machines: “My dream was to clean plastic. We met someone who is interested, who comes from Bora Bora in French Polynesia. We signed a pre-contract to deliver the small variant of the machine which is transportable in containers. You can position it in a boat, bring back the plastic and produce fuel directly on site.”

Pyrolysis is sometimes referred to as a low cost technology. But in the context of the climate emergency, it is making a strong comeback, because it is quickly put in place and tested.

>> Read also: Switzerland recycled 9,400 tonnes of plastic in 2022

Up-to-date technology

“The fact that it is old technology does not necessarily mean that it will not work today. The context has changed and it is a good opportunity to revisit technologies”, adds Jeremy Luterbacher, associate professor at EPFL.

Pyrolysis is therefore ideal for treating these plastics which we no longer know what to do with. But for sorted and good quality plastic, recycling remains the preferred route.

TV Subject: Vincent Jacquat

Web adaptation: Carlotta Maccarini

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