Sustainability of Materials: Advances in Recycling and Resource Recovery

Transcription

1 Sustainability of Materials: Advances in Recycling and Resource Recovery Professor Diran Apelian Worcester Polytechnic Institute November 9 th, 2011 Worcester, MA David B. Spencer, Sc.D. Chairman & CTO wte Corporation

2 Key Recycling Needs & Issues! It must be a business or it must be subsidized, but by whom?! You can lose a little money for a long time; or you can lose a lot of money for a short time;! But you Can t Lose A LOT of Money for A Long Time!!!! Companies provide technology, know how, operations and markets.! Losses from recycling must be covered by a public mandate or by individual commitment. 2

3 Changes from Rapid Computing & Novel Sensor Advances! As Computing Speeds Increase, Technology is Moving from Mass Migration Techniques to Computer Recognition Techniques! Computers and Sensor Technologies allow Direct Measurement of Properties rather than Analog Evaluations. Explain. 3

4 Ways to Recycle Today! Deposit / Bottle Bills! Drop-Off Centers! Curbside Recycling! Materials Recycling Facilities (MRFs)! Front End Resource Recovery Facilities! Waste to Energy with Materials Recovery! Refuse Derived Fuel Type! Mass Burn Type 4

5 Types of Processing Approaches! Hand Sortation: Still Big in China and poorer nations! Mass migration / Minerals Beneficiation Techniques! Magnetic Separation! Screening! Air Classification! Eddy Current Separation! Froth Flotation! Heavy Media Separation! Automated Computer & Optics:! She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not! Color Sortation! Visual Recognition! Optoelectronic Sortation (LIBS/XRF) 5

6 Container Deposits & Bottle Bill Systems 6

7 Bottle Return / Reverse Vending Systems 7

8 Drop Off Center / Return Systems 8

9 Curbside Collection Systems a) Sorted by Homeowner b) Hand-sorted at Curbside c) Commingled Collection/ Centralized Sortation 9

10 Homeowner Separation at Curbside 10

11 Commingled Collection at Curbside (Sorted at Curbside or Sent to MRF) 11

12 Commingled Collection for Central Processing 12

13 Materials Recycling Facilities (MRFs) 1. Clean MRFs 2. Dirty MRFs 13

14 Materials Recycling Systems MRFs 14

15 Front End / Mixed Waste Processing 15

16 Waste to Energy Plants (WTE) 1. RDF Plants 2. Mass Burn Plants 16

17 Monroe Count NY (MCRRF) TPD Rotary Drum Air Classifier (RDAC) a Spencer Innovation built by Cedarrapids. Birdseye View of MCRRF; Spencer was Project Manager for Process Design, Engineerig Design & Initial Start Up RDF Transport & Storage & Glass Transport Trailer/Containers and Lowell Influenced Wet Process System for Glass Recovery based on USBM Experiences.. 17

18 Delaware Reclamation Project:1000 tpd MSW/350 tpd Sludge 18

19 Mass Burn Waste To Energy Plants 19

20 Paper and Corrugated 20

21 Baling of Paper & Corrugated 1

22 Paper & Corrugated Illusions! Recycled versus Recyclable! Contamination & Grades! Moisture! Sun Bleaching! Chinese Corrugated/Short Fiber! Pizza Boxes! McDonald s Bags / Unbleached 2

23 Glass 3

24 Types of Glass and Illusions! Types of Glass! Flint or Clear! Emerald or Green! Amber or Brown! Paper Labels and Washing! Stones! Color Mixtures! Metal & Plastic Contamination! Transportation Issues 4

25 Glass Recycling Systems 5

26 Plastics 6

27 Types of Plastic 1. PET or PETE: Polyethylene Teraphalate 2. HDPE: High Density Polyethylene 3. PVC: Polyvinyl Chloride 4. LDPE: Low Density Polyethylene 5. PP: Polypropylene 6. PS: Polystyrene 7. Other: Mixed and Other 7

28 Plastic Recycling Illusions! Single Polymer Plastic (e.g. PET)! Contamination (e.g. PVC in PET)! Color! Barriers! Metal & Coke (screens)! McDonald s and Polystyrene! Washing and Labels! Polymers versus Elements 8

29 Baled Cans, PET & HDPE from MRF s and Deposit Systems 9

30 HDPE Plastics on the Shelf 10

31 wte s Recycling Businesses 11

32 wte Business History! Formed in 1981: 20 Year History! Started Out in Waste-to-Energy Business! Recycling Facility Ownership and Operation! Plastics Recycling! Metals Recycling! Venture Backed: Advent, Chase-H&Q! Small Business (Revenues: $100 M/yr.) 12

33 Akron Recycle Energy System 13

34 New Plastics & Metals Recycling Processes Automotive, Post Consumer & Industrial Resins & Metals 14

35 PET Plastics 15

36 UltrePET in Albany NY: wte s Plastics Recycling & Reclaiming Business State of the Art High Speed Optoelectronic Bottle Sorting High Capacity Grinding Sophisticated Chemical Cleaning & Washing Pelletizing Recycled Resins 16

37 PET PETE 17

38 Metals 18

39 wte s Ferrous Metals Processing Business! 120,000 TPY! Autos! Pre- Combustion RDF Ferrous! Post Combustion PIF Ferrous! White Goods 19

40 Metal Recycling Illusions! Tin Can Issues! Detinning! Copper Cementation/Leaching! Steelmaking! Iron/Reinforcing Bar! Label & Washing! Contamination! Copper and Tin! Ash! Paper and Plastic 20

41 Baled Tin Cans from MRFs 1

42 Paper and Plastic from RDF Plants 2

43 Processed Auto & RDF Ferrous 3

44 Ferrous Ash from Mass Burn WTE Plants 4

45 Today s Eddy Current Technology 5

46 Nonferrous Ash from WTE Plants 6

47 Spectramet Technologies & Melt Cognition

48 How Recycling Was Done in the Good Old Days 8

49 The Ragpicking Business! The variety of items recuperated and their recycling testified to the rag picker s ingenuity. No less than 400 different types of woolen, silk, cotton and canvas rags were bought by industry for various purposes. Empty bottles, broken glass, corks, straps, old paper and boxes, metal extracted from buttons or picture frames, shoes, crusts of bread, orange peel, bones or even small locks of hair all were reworked, remodeled and resold in various forms. However, after a long period ending around 1870, the traditional rag-and-bone trade declined in the face of competition from industrial development and the invention of new manufacturing processes. 9

50 How Recycling is Done Today in the 21 st Century 10

51 Most Cost Effective Method for Recovery of Nonferrous Metal Scrap Today (Photos Courtesy of ISRI) 11

52 Today s Technology 12

53 How Can the US Compete?! Pay our workers less than China does! Raise China s Labor Rates! Send our business to China! Get into another business! Make a cheap machine that replaces people! All of the above! None of the above 13

54 The Innovation Challenge What cannot be done today, but if it could be done, would revolutionize business in such an enormous way that it could change the industry forever. 14

55 Major Lessons! Experts will state that what you are trying to do can t be done. Everything is always impossible before it works. That is what entrepreneurs are all about doing what people told them was impossible. (Quote from Venture Capitalist, Hunt Green)! If at first you don t succeed, regroup and try again.! After you lose the first time, talk to the program people and try to convince them you are not crazy! Ask them to take a chance on you! If they do, don t ever let them down. 15

56 Business Concept! Do the same sort of optoelectronic sortation on metals that we do on plastics! Focus on metals because much more of it and more lucrative! Needed a technology for metals and ability to sort many more types of material at high speed 16

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59 Four Module FlakeSort System Installed in Plastics Recycling Plant in Venice, Italy 19

60 High Speed Identification and Sorting of Nonferrous Metal Scrap

61 Mission Statement: The development and worldwide commercialization of fully automated proprietary metal identification and sorting systems that will cost effectively sort low grade or contaminated mixtures of metal alloys into high grade specification products of known composition. 21

62 Mixed Autoshredder Nonferrous Concentrate 22

63 Aerospace Metals and Superalloys 23

64 Alloy Sorter 24

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66 Melt Cognition 26

67 Student Advice / Words of Wisdom! There is Money in Engineering much more than the surveys & what they tell you.! Differentiate yourself from Others 3% of US students pursue engineering ed.! Pursue your Passion not your parents.! Do the right things and with the right motives!! Add Value and focus on value not profit or self gain. 27

68 Persistence! Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence! Talent will not nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent! Genius will not unrewarded genius is almost a proverb! Education will not the world is full of educated derelicts! Persistence and determination are omnipotent! The slogan Press on has solved, and always will solve, the problems of the human race. 28