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NSW Breaking News

From recycling to upcycling: A smarter way of dealing with plastic & ag waste

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Federal Government’s COVID-19 Disaster Payments

From recycling to upcycling: A smarter way of dealing with plastic & ag waste

Researchers have developed a clean and cost-effective way to upcycle used plastic, transforming it into valuable nanomaterials and high-quality fuel.

Key points

New tech produces carbon nanotubes and clean liquid fuel from used plastic
Smart solution for upcycling plastic and agricultural waste simultaneously
Circular economy approach to help turn two massive waste streams into genuine revenue
Globally only about 20% of waste plastics are recycled. Boosting that figure remains a challenge as recycling plastic cleanly can be expensive and usually produces lower-value products, often making it financially unviable.

The new method from researchers at RMIT University can produce high-value products from plastic – carbon nanotubes and clean liquid fuel – while simultaneously upcycling agricultural and organic waste.

The team’s two-step process, revealed in the Journal of Environmental Management, converts organic waste into a carbon-rich and high-value form of charcoal, then uses this as a catalyst to upcycle the plastic.

Lead researcher Associate Professor Kalpit Shah said upcycling two massive waste streams through one circular economy approach could deliver significant financial and environmental benefits.

“Our method is clean, cost-effective and readily scaleable,” Shah said.

“It’s a smart solution for transforming both used plastic and organic waste – whether tonnes of biomass from a farm or food waste and garden clippings from household green bins.

“We hope this technology could be used in future by local councils and municipal governments to help turn this waste into genuine revenue streams.

“With Australia banning export of waste plastic from next year, it’s vital that we explore sustainable and cost-efficient alternatives beyond recycling.

“Upcycling plastic with home-grown tech would enable us to draw the greatest possible value out of our limited resources and bring us closer towards a true circular economy.”

Plastic unfantastic

The export of unprocessed single resin/polymer plastics will be banned from July 1, 2022, under new Australian laws designed to phase out export of waste plastics, paper, glass and tyres.

Australia’s national recycling target is for 70% of the country’s plastic packaging to be recycled or composted by 2025, but a recent report found just 9.4% of plastic was recycled in 2017-2018.

Recycling and clean energy is one of six national priorities in the Federal Government’s Modern Manufacturing Strategy.

High-value nanomaterials

The new plastic upcycling approach offers a sustainable alternative for the production of carbon nanotubes (CNTs).

These hollow, cylindrical structures have exceptional electronic and mechanical properties, with applications across a broad range of sectors including hydrogen storage, composite materials, electronics, fuel cells and biomedical technologies.

Carbon nanotubes are in growing demand, particularly in aerospace and defence, where they can facilitate the design of lightweight parts. The global market for CNTs has been projected to reach $5.8 billion by 2027.

Turning old into new

The new method starts with converting agricultural or organic waste to biochar – a carbon-rich form of charcoal often used for improving soil health.

The biochar is used to eliminate toxic contaminants – such as Poly-cyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, known as PAHs – as the waste plastic is broken down into its components of gas and oil.

The process eliminates those contaminants and convert plastics into high-quality liquid fuel.

At the same time, the carbon in the plastic is converted into carbon nanotubes, which coat the biochar.

These nanotubes can be exfoliated for use by various industries or the nano-enhanced biochar can be used directly for environmental remediation and boosting agricultural soils.

The study is the first to use low-cost and widely available biochar as a catalyst for making contaminant-free fuel and carbon nanomaterials from plastic.

Shah, the Deputy Director (Academic) of the ARC Training Centre for Transformation of Australia’s Biosolids Resource at RMIT, said while the study only investigated one type of plastic the approach would be applicable to a range of plastic types.

“We focused on polypropylene as this is widely used in the packaging industry,” he said.

“While we need to do further research to test different plastics, as the quality of the fuel produced will vary, the method we’ve developed is generally suitable for upcycling any polymers – the base ingredients for all plastic.”

Hyper-efficient reactor

The experimental study conducted at lab scale can also be replicated in a new type of hyper-efficient reactor that has been developed and patented by RMIT.

The reactor is based on fluidised bed technology and offers significant improvement in heat and mass transfer, to reduce overall capital and operating costs.

The next steps for the upcycling research will involve detailed computer modelling to optimise the methodology, followed by pilot trials in the reactor.

The team from RMIT’s School of Engineering is keen to collaborate with plastic and waste industries to further the research and investigate other potential applications of the upcycling method.

The research was supported through an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship.

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The Northern Rivers Times Edition 164

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The Northern Rivers Times Edition 164 page 1

The Northern Rivers Times Edition 164

 

 

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2022 Floods

‘Don’t Forget Us!’ say Bungawalbyn, Woodburn and Coraki Residents.

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Protestor holding a sign at Woodburn Bridge

‘Don’t Forget Us!’ say Bungawalbyn, Woodburn and Coraki Residents.

 

By Kate Coxwell.

The Resilient Homes Program, which was created to provide assistance to home owners to restore and flood protect their homes and lives from future events has rejected over 5000 of the applicants out of just over 6000 in total, resulting in a rally which last weekend saw the Clarence electorate, Woodburn, Coraki, Bungawalbin, Broadwater, Wardell and surrounding rural townships came out in force, back to the bridge where National media had filmed them stranded, in the floods, nearly 18 months ago.

$750 million dollars of promised flood recovery funds seemingly disappeared the week prior, and over 5000 residents affected by floods were called by Service NSW staff to say “you are ineligible” as the NRRC also released new flood zone maps excluding the 2022 data and itself dissolved within days in the same week, the buck now stopping with the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Authority.

The Resilient Homes Program, which was created to provide assistance to home owners to restore and flood protect their homes and lives from future events has rejected over 5000 of the applicants out of just over 6000 in total, resulting in a rally which last weekend saw the Clarence electorate, Woodburn, Coraki, Bungawalbin, Broadwater, Wardell and surrounding rural townships came out in force, back to the bridge where National media had filmed them stranded, in the floods, nearly 18 months ago.

Arguably, these communities were the hardest hit, with some residents being stranded for over 3 weeks with no access in or out, some stranded for 6 in the worst hit areas of Bungawalbyn, and no one other than their own community, coming to provide life saving medical and supply runs of food and water. This community says it is still feeling forgotten, as many homes, being classed as rural, have been made automatically ineligible, while some others, where water reached the ceiling fans, due to the new mapping, deemed ‘safe’.

With over 300 people attending the rally, standing across the span of the Woodburn Bridge, it was very well attended. Local MP’s Janelle Saffin (State for Lismore) and Richie Williamson (State for Clarence) as well as Mayor Robert Mustow.

Protestors rallying on the Woodburn bridge holding signs.

In an address to the crowd MP Richie Williamson said “This is a humanitarian crisis we are dealing with, the Premier agreed. We need to do better- the Government, the politicians-everyone in the decision-making chain needs to do better.”

Whilst MP Janelle Saffin said “You say you feel forgotten. I have not forgotten you. It was an inland tsunami. Despite not representing Woodburn, you are in my heart!”

Both MP’s and the Mayor were supportive of the Tranch 2 funding proposed, and had recently attended Sydney, speaking to Parliament as a group, about the needs of the community.

One member of the Coraki community recalled “how even in the second major 2022 flood, there was only 2 SES on that day, despite all warnings and extra support sent from around the State, we were forgotten, and the community who had been helping us with supplies, people who live among us who had also lost everything, they were the ones who came, with emergency medical supplies, food and assistance for those trapped again.”

Lyndall Murray from the Hands and Hearts Project, a project which has come together to do what the Government simply hasn’t, and that is to restore 100 homes, with their small team of 16 volunteers, said “The Hands and Hearts Project is doing what the Government won’t. The NRRC decision broke my heart.”

This time, the community is coming together to say “We count- Don’t Forget us!” and has formed a petition, asking for all who care about them to sign it. The petition can be found here: www.dontforgetus.com.au

 

To see more news on the 2022 floods, please see our other recent posts.

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