2023-11-14 23:11:16
Transform plastic waste into fuel. This is the challenge taken by a Kenyan start-up, Progreen Innovations. It uses the pyrolysis technique. Plastics are heated to a very high temperature, without oxygen. The fuel that comes out is then refined and heated a second time. The final result can be used for several types of engines. Reporting.
For two years, James Muritu has been experimenting. This research allowed this computer engineer to found Progreen Innovations. Everything happens in his garden about fifty kilometers from Nairobi. An oven connected to several pipes proudly sits there. A strong smell of burnt plastic emanates from it. James Muritu details the process: “ We are incinerating plastic. See the temperature controller here? It’s 500 degrees Celsius. The liquid goes through all these pipes, and then we collect it here. There, crude oil is coming out. We see it, it looks like that which we extract from the soil. It is this liquid which will then be refined to make fuel. »
A promising method
Progreen Innovations can produce up to 1,000 liters of fuel per week, using pyrolysis. No need for electricity. Heat is obtained from biomass, plant waste. The process produces two kinds of fuel. “ There is alternative gasoline, for low combustion engines, such as water pumps, generators or lawn mowers.explains James. And alternative diesel, which works for more powerful diesel engines, like cars. I use it for mine by the way ! » The plastic comes from waste from surrounding villages. It is sorted before being burned. James Muritu prides himself on this: his system prevents these plastics from ending up in the environment. The pyrolysis method, however, is a source of controversy.
Read alsoIvory Coast: the still timid experience of recycling plastic waste
“Better than throwing plastics into the ocean”
This is what Damien Guironnet, professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois in the United States, explains: “ The idea of recycling is to transform plastic into plastic. The problem with pyrolysis is that we use oil, we make plastic, it costs a lot of energy and then we transform this plastic into oil. We can, it’s true, use the pyrolysis oil to make plastic again, but in the end, we will have lost a lot of energy. And everything that is energy means releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Depending on what plastic we use in pyrolysis, vinyl will release hydrogen chloride, and that is super harmful to the environment. And so all these small advances, pyrolysis with biomass, it’s not the solution, but it’s still better than throwing plastics into the ocean. »
Only 9% of plastic waste is recycled. Environmental defenders agree: the best solution remains to limit production. Please note that Progreen Innovation fuels are not yet marketed. They must first be certified by the Kenya Bureau of Standards.
Read also“Less plastic, more life”: environmentalists demonstrate before an international meeting in Nairobi
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