Technology development facility The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) is leading a European collaborative project that aims to transform food waste into graphene and renewable hydrogen.
The three-year ‘PlasCarb’ project, co-funded under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), will utilise a ‘low-energy microwave plasma process’ to split biogas produced from anaerobically digested food waste into ‘high value graphitic carbon and renewable hydrogen’.
The graphene, which is a lightweight electrical and heat conductor, could be used for a variety of applications, such as building solar cells and electric circuits, while the hydrogen (which is usually produced from fossil fuels) could be used as a renewable transport fuel.
CPI will be responsible for the technical aspects of separating the biogas into methane and carbon dioxide, and separating the graphitic carbon produced from the renewable hydrogen. This will involve operating an integrated plant continuously for a period of at least one month, transforming over 150 tonnes of mixed food waste into over 25,000 cubic metres of biogas. Around a tenth of this, 2,400 cubic metres, will then be transformed into renewable hydrogen and graphitic carbon.
It is hoped that the project will create ‘a sustainable source of significant economic added value’ from the food waste stream and devise a ‘future technology roadmap for commercial-scale manufacturing’. This will comprise of a business strategy, a financial risk assessment of the project results, and a ‘flexible financial model that is able to act as a primary screen of economic viability’.
'An innovative solution to the problems associated with food waste'
Dr Keith Robson, Director of Formulation and Flexible Manufacturing at CPI said, “PlasCarb will provide an innovative solution to the problems associated with food waste, which is one of the biggest challenges that the European Union faces in the strive towards a low carbon economy. The project will not only seek to reduce food waste but also use new technological methods to turn it into renewable energy resources which themselves are of economic value, and all within a sustainable manner.”
The project partners are: The Centre for Process Innovation (UK); microwave plasma technology company GasPlas AS (NO); research centre Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique(FR); Fraunhofer Institutes’ Institute for Building Physics (DE); commercial funding provider Uvasol Ltd (UK), energy-from-waste company GAP Waste Management (UK); environmental technologies firm Geonardo Ltd (HU); and graphene research and development specialists Abalonyx AS (NO).
For more information about PlasCarb.
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