12/22/2008 14h48
Wastech invests in technology for plastic recycling
Gazeta Mercantil - 12/22/2008
In spite of offering advantages in the substitution of some materials, plastic is seen in many cases as one of the environmental villains. Such reputation, however, may have its days counted. If the new recycling technologies of the product are successful, plastic shall follow the same path of the aluminum cans, which practically "do not touch the ground" when they are thrown away. One of the most recent techniques, and that may provide additional value to the recycling of plastic, is being brought to Brazil by Novaenergia, a company created by the Wastech group. Specialized in the treatment of dangerous residues, with more than 20 years in the market, the group entered into an agreement with the German Clyvia Technology to transform plastic into diesel oil. The basic idea is get the byproduct of oil and by means of processes of fractioned depolymerization make the opposite way of the plastic manufacturer, making the material return to its previous condition. That because the heating of pricked plastic, when under pressure, leads to a chemical process inside the carbon chain that allows obtaining, inside a vacuum reactor, hydrocarbons with low sulfur content, informed, Luciano Costa Coimbra, a Wastech partner. Each ton of plastic is enough to produce ten thousand liters of diesel. "And it is not biodiesel, we call it ‘liesel', because it is diesel from mineral raw material, but which will help ‘clean' (
limpar, in Portuguese) the environment", added Coimbra. According to him, diesel made from plastic can be used in any normal diesel-driven vehicle, without any adaptation. The agreement foresees the exclusiveness of the Brazilian company for the use of the technology for five years and the project includes the implementation of up to 50 recycling units all over Brazil, at an estimate cost of R$ 16 million (US$ 7 million) each. The investments will be made with its own funds or, in some cases, in partnership with some national investors interested in the sectors of plastics, collection and burying of urban garbage and treatment of industrial residues. The return of the investment is expected to occur within 30 months. There are negotiations for the sale of stocks of Novaenergia to some international financial funds specialized in environmental investments and in the generation of energy or fuels made from alternative sources, according to Coimbra. The first four units should be installed in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Bahia. "If everything goes right, garbage will become a commodity, mainly if we take into consideration that plastic represents nearly 15% of everything that is thrown away", added the Wastech partner, company that has contracts of specialized transport and final disposal of residues of nearly R$ 25 million (US$ 10,9 million).
