After six years of research and a finished prototype, Oliver Riedel, founder and managing director of Biofabrik, plans to start series production. The WASTX Plastic plant shall process up to 1,000 kilograms of non-recyclable plastics. One kilo of plastic waste is said to results in about one litre of fuel. In a pyrolysis process and with special reactors, waste such as roofing felt, fishing nets or packaging is converted into gas or liquid at high temperatures. The plant is a "heart project" for Riedel to solve one of the biggest problems of our time. Experts such as Roman Maletz from the Institute for Waste and Recycling Management at the Technical University of Dresden are sceptical. Although he considers the conversion of plastic waste into raw material to be the right approach, experience in recent years would have shown that technical implementation is difficult. In the past two years much has changed in the retransformation of plastics into their original basic building blocks, according to Maletz. But like he says he finds it difficult to imagine a miracle machine from which a high-quality fuel can emerge with a good energy balance.
Sources:
- wiwo.de (25.6.2019)
- Photo: Biofabrik