Nonrecycled waste can be energy source the american chemistry council acc and university of texas at austin have released a study reaffirming the value of everyday waste as a clean, abundant, affordable source of domestic energy. The study, completed by michael webber, ph.d, and his team of university researchers, demonstrated that fuel engineered from nonrecycled plastics and other materials could successfully power a cement kiln located in texas.
The research showed that fuel engineered from waste could serve as valuable fuel for not only cement kilns, but potentially for other energy intensive commercial and industrial operations. Webber&39s research reaffirms the benefits of energy from waste. In the case of the fuel developed and used in the study, the energy content surpassed that of some forms of coal. The team found that if only 5 percent of unusable materials from recycling facilities were diverted from landfills to energy recovery, it would generate enough energy to power approximately 700,000 homes annually.
At the same time, the study claims the reductions in carbon emissions would be equivalent to removing one million cars from u.s. Roads, and there would be significant reductions in sulfur emissions. In this case, one person&39s trash truly is another person&39s treasure. Americans send tons of waste to landfills each and every day, meaning that one of america&39s most abundant and affordable sources of energy ends up buried in landfills," says cal dooley, president and ceo of acc. "it&39s time we got smart and made energy recovery a central part of america&39s energy strategy."
"the combination of environmental benefits, emerging science, and economic opportunity make recovering energy from waste an opportunity that we can&39t afford to ignore," webber says. The engineered fuel that is the subject of webber&39s latest research represents one of many promising methods being developed to harness the energy from waste. The field of energy recovery is one of the major parts of acc&39s "from chemistry to energy" campaign.
