WINTER EDITION ENGINE ROOM 07 Thewaste-to-fuel opportunity Organic waste food as fuel beyond the body Blended biofuel powering flights of the future Tyre waste driving another future energy source “ “ Food waste should have a high value. We’re treating it as a resource, and we’re making marketable products out of it… Food waste is still carbon – a lot of carbon. Roy Posmanik, Postdoctoral Researcher – Cornell University1 In 2014-15, about 542 kilograms per capita of non-hazardous organic wastes were generated – just over half were recovered mostly through garden composting but some energy recovery was predominantly from organics sent to landfills with gas collection systems linked to the electricity grid.2 But researchers at Cornell University in the US have discovered a way to capture nearly all of the energy in a food waste product, leaving little behind for landfill using a process called hydrothermal liquefaction.3 The waste is ‘pressure cooked’ to produce a crude bio-oil that can be refined into biofuel, while the remaining food waste is anaerobically digested by microbes and converted into methane.4 Currently, with the exception of agricultural and forestry biomass, extensive energy generation from solid organic wastes is not well-developed outside landfill but is promising.5 Sustainable aviation biofuel will decrease carbon emissions and support the continued growth of aviation. Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group6 In January 2018, Qantas operated a dedicated biofuel flight between the United States and Australia: QF96 from Los Angeles to Melbourne was a trans-Pacific 15-hour flight using approximately 24,000 kilograms of blended biofuel, saving 18,000 kilograms in carbon emissions. The biofuel processed from brassica carinata, a non-food, industrial type of mustard seed. The flight was part of the partnership announced in 2017, which will also see the company work with Australian farmers to grow the country’s first commercial aviation biofuel seed crop by 2020. Replacing one tonne of black coal with a tonne of tyre-derived fuel can save up to 1.05 tonnes of CO2 . Australian Tyre Recyclers Association7 Around 51 million equivalent passenger units of end-of-life (EOL) tyres are generated in Australia every year8 . Less than ten per cent are recycled; illegal dumping, burning and direct incineration presents challenges9 – and a big opportunity. Tyre-derived fuel (TDF) is produced when those EOL tyres (typically cut or shredded tyres and tyre chip) are converted into a product for use as fuel feedstock. TDF is a viable alternative for fossil fuels in power stations, smelters, cement kilns and paper mills. In Victoria alone, at least 18 per cent of total annual EOL tyres are exported as TDF – offering around $100 per tonne more revenue for a tyre collector against landfill costs.10 1. W Clarke, B McCabe, Capturing the true wealth of Australia’s waste, The Conversation, 24 August 2017. 2. B Friedlander, Cornell engineers transform food waste into green energy, Cornell Chronicle, 13 June 2017. 3. Dr J Pickin and P Randell, Australian National Waste Report 2016, Department of the Environment and Energy and Blue Environment Pty Ltd, 20 June 2017. 4. Friedlander, ibid. 5. R Posmanika, etal, Coupling Hydrothermal Liquefaction and Anaerobic Digestion for Energy Valorization From Model Biomass Feedstocks, Bioresource Technology, June 2017. 6. https://www.qantas.com/travel/airlines/ sustainable-aviation-fuel/global/en#jump5 . 7. B Nogrady, Transforming waste into fuel with Australian innovations, from tyres to sugar cane and agave, The Guardian, 16 December 2016. 8. Inside Waste, ATRA proves TDF an attractive alternative fuel, 10 February 2017 9. A study conducted by Arcadis (previously Hyder) in 2015 cited in Inside Waste, ibid. 10. Planet Ark, Fact sheet: tyre recycling