We live in exciting times. New Eco-Friendly and Energy-Saving Technologies are being introduced at a pace never seen before. At ECOLUTION we continually investigate new products and methods that will lessen our impact on the environment and enhance sustainable energy models for generations to come.
Waste Transfer Stations play an important role in any community’s total waste management system, serving as the link between a community’s solid waste collection program and a final waste disposal facility solution. While facility ownership, sizes, and services offered vary significantly among transfer stations, they all serve the same basic purpose – consolidating waste from multiple collection sites/vehicles into larger, high-volume transfer vehicles for more economical shipment to distant disposal sites.
Recycling Programs are key to modern transfer stations. Workers screen incoming wastes on conveyor systems, tipping floors, or in receiving pits. Waste screening has two components: separating recyclables from the waste stream and identifying any wastes that might be inappropriate for disposal (e.g., hazardous wastes or materials, white goods, whole tires, auto batteries, or infectious waste). Identifying and removing recyclables reduces the weight and volume of waste sent for final disposal and, depending on local recycling markets, might generate revenue.
Community Convenience Centres open to public use enable individual citizens to deliver waste directly to the transfer station facility for ultimate disposal. Some convenience centres offer programs to manage yard waste, bulky items, household hazardous waste, and recyclables. These multipurpose convenience centres are assets to the community by achieving recycling goals, increasing the public’s knowledge of proper materials management and diverting materials that would otherwise burden existing disposal capacity.
Gasification converts almost any material into a useable and efficient gas (RNG – syngas). The syngas can be used to produce electricity directly, via gas turbines and various Gensets or used to produce liquid fuels, biofuels, a substitute for natural gas (SNG), or hydrogen. There are more than 140 gasification plants operating worldwide at present. Nineteen of those plants are located in the United States. Worldwide gasification capacity is projected to grow 70% by 2022, with 80% of that growth occurring in Asia.
Pyrolysis is the thermo-chemical decomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures in the absence of oxygen. Pyrolysis typically occurs under slight pressure and at operating temperatures above 430°C (800°F). The word is coined from the Greek-derived elements pyr “fire” and lysis “separating”. Pyrolysis is a special case of thermolysis and is most commonly used for organic materials. The Pyrolysis or gasification of wood, which starts at 200–300°C (390–570°F) and occurs naturally for example when vegetation comes into contact with lava in volcanic eruptions. In general, pyrolysis of organic substances produces gas and liquids leaving a solid residue richer in carbon content. Extreme pyrolysis, which leaves mostly carbon as the residue, is called carbonization.
There are several different configurations/designs for Gasification/Pyrolysis reactors, each purpose driven by design and specific to the feedstock.
Tire recycling is the process of converting end-of-life or unwanted old tires into tire-derived fuel (TDF) that can be utilized as fuel energy or further converted into other products. The recycling process involves shredding the tires and separating metals and other materials for reuse or disposal, and further processing the rubber via gasification into TDF.
There are over one billion end-of-life tires generated worldwide yearly, with 249.4 million scrap tires generated in the U.S. alone in 2017. Discarded tires provide shelter for rodents and can trap water, providing a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other disease carrying vectors. In landfills, tires consume up to 75% airspace versus other solid municipal waste and may become buoyant and rise to the surface via trapped methane gas. This action can rupture landfill liners that are designed to prevent contaminants from polluting surface and groundwater.
The EPA notes the following benefits of repurposing tires for fuel:
ECOLUTION advocates 1). permanently retiring all single-use fossil fuel-based plastics from landfills and the environment by harvesting and processing this material into Syngas or other products such as building materials or fertilizer, and 2). meeting the global plastic demand with new environmentally friendly plant-based plastics as a replacement.
ECOLUTION offers a broad spectrum of proven and state-of-the-art technologies to accomplish this bold new vision for a sustainable future.
RNG (Renewable Natural Gas or Syngas) is a low-carbon fuel that can be used in transportation, industrial, commercial, and residential sectors of the economy.
CCS is a technology used as a safe and permanent means to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from large‐scale industrial facilities, which account for over 70% of global green-house gas emissions (e.g., oil sands, electricity generation, cement, and petrochemical manufacturing facilities).
A CCS project will:
1) capture emissions that would normally be vented into the atmosphere,
2) transport the emissions to a well site, and
3) inject the CO2 into deep underground rock formations for permanent storage.
Governments, Environmental Agencies and Technical Organizations worldwide are promoting CCS as one way of combating climate change. There are approximately 21 large‐scale CCS projects in operation or under construction world‐wide. CCS technologies have existed for decades and are proven to safely reduce CO2 emissions from large‐scale emitters.
Renewable natural gas, (RNG), is produced entirely from organic waste. As a fuel for natural gas vehicles, including heavy-duty trucks and Electricity Generators, it produces 70% lower greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline or diesel fuel making RNG Syngas the cleanest burning fuel available.
In response to global climate change initiatives, diesel generator manufacturers have been introducing new models (of scale – Industrial/Commercial generators) that can run efficiently on a wide range of gaseous fuels including NATURAL GAS, BIOGAS (from landfills and digesters), RNG, COAL GAS, ASSOCIATED GAS, PROPANE, METHANE and SYNGAS.
Most RNG generator sets are designed with all the component parts to be perfectly integrated with each other, which ensures the efficiency of the units and allows them to provide extended guarantees and warranties. Not only does converting to RNG reduce emissions, operating costs and servicing down time, but it is also compliant with emerging global emissions requirements.
ECOLUTION typically combines Gasification and RNG Generators as key components to a sustainable waste management and clean energy solution.
The goal of wastewater management is to clean water so that is suitable to release into oceans, lakes, and rivers after it has been used or collected as leachate, ground or rainwater.
Wastewater is usually divided into two major groups: point source wastewater and non-point source wastewater. Point source wastewater includes wastewaters that enter natural waters (such as lakes, rivers, and oceans) from defined locations. The most common point sources are sanitary sewers and storm drains. Non-point source wastewater is wastewater that is not connected to a specific source. This includes runoff (water that drains away) from agriculture (chemicals and pesticides) and urban (city) areas, and acidic waters polluted from mines and the like. In many ways, point source wastewater is much easier to manage because its source and the pollutants it contains are known. Non-point source wastewater, on the other hand, is both hard to identify and treat.
The largest source of point wastewater is from residential and industrial drains. These wastewaters all flow into sanitary sewers leading to sewage treatment plants. Wastewaters from homes contain human waste, food, soaps, and detergents. They also contain pathogens, which are organisms that can cause diseases. Industrial wastewaters contain toxic (poisonous) pollutants, which can endanger human health and harm other organisms. These include pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs,) and heavy metals like lead, mercury, and nickel. These metals are generally toxic to all plant and animal life. The goal of sewage treatment is to remove all of these pollutants from the wastewater so that it can be returned to natural waters.
Revolutionizing clean energy production on a global scale.
In a word, ECOLUTION.
