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An engineering team from Wits University and the South
African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa), have developed novel
technology to turn biomass (agricultural waste) and garbage (solid
municipal waste) into liquid fuel, electricity, waxes and paraffin. It
is the first time that this innovative project, developed in South
Africa by South Africans, has been manufactured on a small-scale to
make it economical for South Africa and other developing countries.
The BeauTi-FueL TM Project, an
environmentally-friendly plant small enough to fit into a standard 40
ft container on the back of a truck, was launched today, Monday, 21
November 2011 and will be driven down to Durban on the 25 th
of November to be showcased at COP17.
“The plant aims to uplift and make small communities
more self-sufficient in terms of energy, without compromising on
potential food sources. Such a process is sufficiently simple thus it
can be easily operated with relatively low risk. The plant will aim to
turn one ton of biomass into one barrel of diesel and 0.5MWh of
electricity per day,” explains Prof. Diane Hildebrandt, Co-Director of
the Centre of Material and Process Synthesis in the Wits School of
Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering. “It is intended that when
implemented, this economical project will have a very strong job
creation aspect in terms of growing the agricultural material,
collecting and sorting Municipal Solid Waste and supplying fuel and
electricity to small municipalities, rural areas and small farming
areas.”
A full-scale plant will treat 91,000 ton per annum of
municipal waste, which will produce enough power for 10,000 homes,
enough heat for around 700 homes, increase recycling rates by over 20%
and will create about 200 jobs, mainly for unskilled workers. The
Project has a negative carbon footprint and the lowest environmental
impact.
“In the long run we would hope to use the very clean
carbon dioxide produced by the process to grow algae that could be
harvested and fed back to the plant or used to feed fish. This will be
labour intensive and could create even more work for unskilled people,
as well as possibly providing protein from the fish for consumption
purposes,” adds Hildebrandt.
“The superior conversion efficiency of the plasma
gasifier and the ease with which the process gas could be manipulated
to optimise the fuel production, combined with the resultant fuel gas
generating electricity, renders this a sought after system for anyone
who generates waste,” says Dr Jaco van der Walt, the Plasma Scientist
from Necsa.
The R5-million pilot plant will be demonstrated at COP17
and a functional prototype will be built by mid-2012, which will be
showcased at different public events and locations around the country.
During this period, the technology will be refined and the facility
will be demonstrated to potential clients.
Story and image: WITS newsroom November 2011
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