New Players in Advanced Recycling – Innovators at work: BluePlasma Power

The Advanced Recycling Conference

The Advanced Recycling Conference 2024 is just around the corner, and is set to be a hub of innovation and progress in the recycling sector. This year, nova-Institute is thrilled to spotlight the pivotal role that smart and dynamic startups play in driving advanced recycling technologies.

Many of these innovative startups will be showcasing pioneering solutions, including advanced technologies like BluePlasma Power’s breakthrough waste-to-hydrogen and carbonates gasification technology. Their plant can operate using different waste sources such as plastics, paper, foams, biomass, digestate and textile among others, also these materials can be processed alone or mixed in any order. It further is capable to produce many end-products such as CO₂-free hydrogen, carbonates such as soda ash, caustic soda, potassium carbonate and hydrochloric acid, and liquid chemical products such as methanol, formaldehyde, and oxy-methylene ethers among others.

Read more about it in our interview series “New Players in Advanced Recycling – Innovators at Work” with Blueplasma CEO Gonzalo Izquierdo.

The unique concept of presenting all advanced recycling solutions and related topics at one event will guarantee a comprehensive and exciting conference experience, including technologies such as extrusion, dissolution, solvolysis, enzymolysis, pyrolysis, thermal depolymerisation, gasification, and incineration with Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU).

This year’s Advanced Recycling Conference will take place on 20-21 Novemeber 2024 in Cologne, Germany and online.

1. Innovation & Sustainability

How does DePoly’s chemical recycling technology help reduce plastic waste and promote sustainability? Can you share specific examples where this has had a significant environmental impact?

Gonzalo Izquierdo: BluePlasma Power has developed and patented a gasification technology that has the following unique characteristics:
• Feeding flexibility: It can operate using different waste sources such as plastics, paper, foams, biomass, digestate and textile among others, also these materials can be processed alone or mixed in any order.
• Capable to produce many end-products:

• CO₂-free hydrogen (or with a negative footprint depending on the waste),
• Carbonates such as soda ash, caustic soda, potassium carbonate and hydrochloric acid, all of them having a low CO₂ footprint and in some cases 80% lower than those produced by conventional technologies.
• Liquid chemical products such as methanol, formaldehyde and oxy-methylene ethers among others.
  • Profitable at small scale: the process is modular, profitable and scalable, starting with a capacity of 2,000 Tn/year of waste (250 kg/h waste).
  • Increases circularity when the products are made from waste, and at the same time, these products contribute to decarbonize the atmosphere by avoiding the extraction of fossil material required to manufacture same products. Furthermore, the process has zero or negative CO₂ footprint.

2. Breakthrough Technology

BluePlasma Powers “Waste to CO₂-free Hydrogen and Carbonates technology” represents a significant advancement in waste management and renewable energy production.

Could you elaborate on how this technology works and its potential impact on both the recycling sector and the broader renewable energy landscape?

You promote your Hydrogen and Carbonates as CO₂-free products. Please explain.

Gonzalo Izquierdo: Our technology uses very compact equipment and very mild conditions: the process temperature is about 650 degrees Celsius and the pressure is close to the atmospheric one: 1 bar. In addition, we avoid the use of air with nitrogen in the gasification system to increase thermic efficiency and to avoid nitrogen oxides.
The cracking system allows us to obtain clean and tar-free syngas containing more than 50% hydrogen and wherein CO is approximately 25%. This clean and rich in hydrogen syngas can separate the hydrogen and the rest of the gases which circulates back to the autocombustion chamber in order to provide the required heat to the gasifier and to convert this process in an autothermic one. Combusted gases containing carbon dioxide and steam, are separated and the CO₂ is then captured to be transformed into carbonates.
The syngas can be used to do chemical synthesis and produce methanol, OMEs, and other products, without the need for external contributions of Hydrogen.
Due to the compact characteristic of the plants they can be located in the facilities of industrial companies that generate waste with high management cost, or in the facilities of waste managers, landfills or incineration plants, to make their current processes more profitable.

3. Challenges & Opportunities

Start-ups often face unique challenges when entering established industries like recycling. What are some of the biggest hurdles that emerging companies encounter in the recycling sector, and conversely, where do you see the most promising opportunities for new ventures to thrive and how do you estimate the potential of small scale measures?

Gonzalo Izquierdo: There are several problems for start-ups related to the world of recycling:

• The first one is related to the culture of some industrial sectors when they come to incorporate or support new technologies. The industries don`t want to take risks unless economical help is at sight.
• The second one is processes to obtain permits for the construction and operation of plants and when the technology has innovation then the decision process becomes slower. It seems to me that an effort must be made to make the processes as agile as possible, because it is the only way to help accelerate the decarbonisation objectives established by the European Union.

In the waste to chemicals value chain an agreement of the off-takers should be made with the distributors of the manufactured circular products, etc..

4. Collaboration & Industry Dynamics

Collaboration among stakeholders seems crucial for driving progress in recycling and waste management. How does BluePlasma Power collaborate with other players in the industry, such as municipalities, corporations, or research institutions, to further innovation and improve recycling infrastructure on a larger scale?

Gonzalo Izquierdo: We have collaborated with companies and institutions that can help us to move faster towards our development goals. Since our beginnings, we have collaborated with technology centres and universities in order to be able to use their facilities and knowledge, we have signed agreements with start-ups on issues that complement our work, we also have obtained letters of interest from large companies that follow up on our project… in summary, if a company wants to have a disruptive proposal and reach the market it has to have the way to obtain immediate access to funds or grants.

5. Future Innovations

Your VALUE+ pilot plant was co-financed by the European Commission Projects H2020 and LIFE. Could you elaborate on the importance of public funding for the successful development of innovative technology?

Gonzalo Izquierdo: The European projects (H2020 and Life) helped us to build our two pilot plants, in which we have tested hundreds of feedstocks and mixtures for more than 1,000 hours to ensure that our technology is consistent. They have been a great help because they allowed us to reach TRL6-7. We are now in the phase of financing the first industrial plant that we will operate 24/7 to be able to reach technological maturity and be able to commercialize BPP´s technology in a reliable way.

Source

nova-Institute, original text, 2024-11-12.

Supplier

Blueplasma Power
DePoly SA
European Union
Horizon 2020
nova-Institut GmbH

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