Displaying items by tag: South Korea

Egypt: South Korea’s JST has signed a deal with the government to build waste recycling plants to produce alternative fuels for cement plants. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Mohammed al-Assar, the Minister of State for Military Production, according to the Egyptian Independent. The ministry said in a statement that the deal is part of its strategy of working with international companies to transfer modern technologies to Egypt.

South Korea: Researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) have created a waterless toilet system that can convert human waste into biofuels. The system is part of a new outdoor creative laboratory, called Science Walden Pavillion, that opened to the public on 25 May 2016.

"Our ultimate goal is not only for the new toilet system to save water and operational costs for wastewater treatment plants, but for us to establish an ecosystem that supports technology innovation and drives economic diversification where human waste literally has a financial value," said Professor Jaeweon Cho, Director of Science Walden Pavillion.

The waterless toilet system uses a biological process to break down human waste into a dehydrated odourless compost-like material. It is then transferred to a digestion tank, containing thousands of different microbes. The microbes inside the tank biodegrade the powdered human manure to generate carbon dioxide and methane. Using high pressure and a membrane system, carbon dioxide is extracted to culture green algae for biofuel while methane is stored for later use as a heating fuel.

The project aims to reduce urbanisation's negative footprint on ecosystems by safely converting human waste into viable renewable energy, possibly with a monetary value.

If this experiment succeeds, the team plans to expand its use of the waterless toilet system and microbial energy production system in real life. This project has been carried out in collaboration with YATOO, Art Center Nabi, Paju Typography Institute and Hankuk Engineering Consultants in South Korea.

South Korea: A new solid recovered fuel (SRF) production facility is now fully operational in Wonju City, South Korea, thanks to global shredding company UNTHA and local partner PERITUS.

Korean waste management specialist Zion has built the SRF manufacturing plant to make smarter use of its residual materials. Now, with the new system in place, pre-sorted construction and demolition waste and commercial and industrial waste, is being shredded to produce a homogenous 50mm fuel for the cement industry.

The UNTHA XR3000C shredder with cutting concept was chosen following a series of trials at UNTHA's Austrian headquarters. Demonstrations showed that the technology could comfortably achieve throughputs of 60-70t/day, with scope to almost double that moving forward. The XR3000C's flexibility also means Zion can achieve a 40-50mm particle size from the single step shredding of plastic bales, which has further boosted the company's SRF production capabilities.

"South Korea may only be in the infancy of its waste-to-energy journey, yet the nation has formed a very sophisticated and disciplined approach to its waste roadmap relatively quickly. Legislation is in place to drive the production of <50mm SRF and the necessary infrastructure is fast evolving to accommodate this," said UNTHA's Head of Business Unit Waste Peter Streinik. "What we see here with Zion, however, is not just a company striving for compliance. They're prioritising energy efficiency, profitability and innovation too, to realise the wider benefits that come with smarter waste management."

Committed to principles akin to Europe's waste hierarchy, Zion extracts as many materials as possible, including bricks, metal, sands, glass and batteries, for re-use or recycling, prior to them entering the SRF manufacturing stream.

"Our family-run business is incredibly passionate about renewable energy, from solar power to alternative fuel production," said Zion's President Geumju Kim. "Now that our new SRF plant is up and running, with state-of-the-art configurable technology in place, the next step is to investigate relationships with different customers. We can satisfy varied specifications, and look forward to improving South Korea's resource agenda."