Australian company H2 4U says high-temperature gasification is the missing piece of the waste circular economy.
Despite strides made in repurposing waste and research, progression and investment into the circular economy, more than 20 million tonnes of municipal solid waste still is sent to Australian landfill annually.
It is a problem that will continue to grow across the country as society evolves.
Henk Wiese, Chief Executive Officer of H2 4U, says there is a need to find new ways to deal with waste heading for landfills.
Methane and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted from landfills are up to 80 times more damaging than carbon dioxide. Taking action now, says Henk, could be the difference between Australia, and possibly the world, achieving climate targets.
“If current waste management processes are not changed, the growing and compounding issue of landfill GHG emissions and dangerous toxins from municipal solid waste going into landfill will only increase the negative impact on our communities,” Henk says.
“Without a change to the current process, this will get worse, and we will continue to waste an opportunity to capture and repurpose a valuable resource of renewable energy.”
The missing piece
H2 4U Pty Ltd, an Australian company based on the Gold Coast, has worked with its team of engineers from Germany, South Africa and around the world for more than 20 years to develop a High Temperature Waste Gasification Conversion Technology.
Henk says that using the teams’ mineralogical and gasification expertise, the company has completed development and testing of proof of concept and pilot plants. The technology has been independently verified and is commercially ready for implementation in Australia.
“Our gasifiers convert municipal waste, normally destined for landfill, into highly valuable syngas in a carbon negative manner,” he says. “The syngas is used to produce a sustainable and reliable source of high output green hydrogen, green biofuels and green electricity at market leading rates.”
Gasification v incineration
Henk says incineration is an outdated technology used for the treatment of waste by burning the organic matter it contains.
The waste materials that are combusted in the process are converted into residual ash and fly ash (from incombustible materials), and heat. Typically, trash incineration emits pollution including nitrogen oxides (NOx), mercury, dioxins, and ultra-fine particles that can cause harm to the community and the environment.
“Even the most advanced pollution control devices can’t eliminate these toxins,” Henk says. “About 30 per cent of air pollutants generated from incineration remain as fly ash, bottom ash, boiler ash, slag and wastewater treatment sludge, poisoning the soil and groundwater, deposited in landfills for generations to come.
“Waste incineration is often an expensive and inefficient way to generate energy.”
Gasification is a chemical process that breaks down waste into its simplest molecular form through established oxidation and reduction reactions. It requires waste to be super-heated in a controlled-oxygen environment to the point that it reacts at the atomic level.
Henk says the H2 4U gasification process is a fully enclosed process that is carbon neutral and emission-free. No complex molecule or compound can survive the extreme heat the feedstock is exposed to. The dioxins, furans, PCBs, tars, oils, industrial waste, paint, plastics, etc are completely broken down into hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
“Even asbestos, a former cancer-causing fire-proofing fibre, turns into harmless silicates,” he says. “Gasification of municipal solid waste can be a cost-effective way of managing waste and producing energy, in conjunction with a commercially viable business model.”
Environmental benefits
The end of life of many landfills will have a significant impact on the ability of local communities to cope with waste. With the reduced options available for dealing with waste and the additional pressure on existing facilities, Henk says gasification plants are an environmentally sound and economically viable solution.
“Our H2 4U gasification plants reduce the inputted volumetric amounts of feedstock going into landfill by 97-99 per cent,” he says.
“This benchmark reduction in the amount of waste sent to landfills provides an immediate positive environmental impact by reducing harmful emissions and seepage into the surrounding environment generated by current waste management processes.
“It benefits not only the environment, by reducing damaging emissions but also the surrounding communities by removing harmful toxins and sets the future for waste management zones.”
The opportunity
Henk says the bespoke H2 4U high temperature gasification conversion process to break down harmful elements into usable green energy is a market-leading opportunity for Australia.
“There are very few limitations as to what the plants can take as a feedstock. This includes, but is not limited to tyres, hard plastics, coal coke, biomass, medical waste, industrial waste, food waste, MSW and even asbestos,” Henk says.
“H2 4U’s scalability of feedstock inputs, of 100-1000 tonnes of waste per day and more, per plant, makes us a market leader in processing waste to clean green energy.
“The modularity of the H2 4U gasification plants allows them to be fully customised to suit the needs of the client and community.
“Besides a range of opportunities for our plants to produce green hydrogen, biofuels, green ammonia and other valuable by-products, we can even produce potable water or power a desalination plant.”
For more information, visit: www.H24U.com
