CO2 CAPTURE AND STORAGE

According to the EPA in 2019, the U.S. released into the atmosphere 6,558 million metric tons of Greenhouse emissions with an 80% CO2 composition (1), in The USA 75 Waste to Power Plants or Waste to Energy Plants or Thermal Waste to Energy Plants (34 public, 41 private) incinerate 34.5 million tons of waste a year or 11.8% of the total waste generated in the USA (2), in The USA waste is incinerated to generate electricity in Waste to Power Plants/ Waste to Energy Plants/Thermal Waste to Energy Plants that operate reliably and steadily generating 13,876,446 MWh of electricity (3), Thermal Waste to Energy Plants generate an average of 1.2 tons of CO2 per each ton of waste incinerated (4), meaning that in the U.S. the Waste to Power sector is responsible for releasing into the atmosphere 41.4 million tons of CO2 yearly or 7.8% of the total amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere a year by The USA.

How can we stop the 41.4 million tons of CO2 generated in Thermal Waste to Energy Plants from reaching the atmosphere? How can we transform the Thermal Waste to Energy Sector into a source of green energy and be Carbon Negative? And how can the byproduct of the Thermal Waste to Energy Sector absorb, store and eliminate millions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere?

The 75 Thermal Waste to Energy Plants in the USA generate 41.4 million tons of CO2 that can be captured and all this CO2 can be stored in the ash that is the byproduct of the waste incineration process, this procedure will absorb 7.8% of the total CO2 that is released into the atmosphere making the Waste to Power sector carbon neutral.

Furthermore, another great percentage (7.2%) of CO2 that comes from another sources can be stored permanently in the ash by transforming the ash into a “Super Green Concrete”, the procedure of transforming a waste byproduct “Ash” into a beneficial Super Green Concrete will stop the 8 million tons of ash that are generated yearly from reaching landfills contributing to a circular economy.

In addition, the resulting “Green Concrete” from ash will be a Photocatalytic concrete (5)a concrete that breaks down air pollutants such as CO2 in a process called photocatalytic oxidation, this reaction is yielded by the Titanium dioxide (TiO2) that is usually present in the Bottom Ash.

References

1. EPA. EPA gov emissions. [Online] JULY 27, 2021. [Cited: October 7, 2021.] https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases.

2. Michigan, University of. Center for Sustainable Systems. MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE FACTSHEET. [Online] 2017. [Cited: October 7, 2021.] https://css.umich.edu/factsheets/municipal-solid-waste-factsheet.

3. Energy Recovery Council. 2018 Directory of Wasto to Energy Facilities. s.l. : Energy Recovery Council, 2018.

4. zerowasteeurope. Understanding the carbon impacts of Waste to Energy incineration. Zero Waste Europe. [Online] MAR 18, 2020. [Cited: October 7, 2021.] https://zerowasteeurope.eu/2020/03/understanding-the-carbon-impacts-of-waste-to-energy/#:~:text=Each%20tonne%20of%20MSW%20incinerated,wood%2C%20paper%20and%20food)..

5. Baoguo , Han, Liqing , Zhang and Jinping, Ou. Photocatalytic Concrete. Springer. [Online] Springer, June 13, 2017. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-4349-9_17#:~:text=Photocatalytic%20concrete%20is%20a%20type,the%20involvement%20of%20light%20illumination..

ZERO ASH IN LANDFILLS INITIATIVE

Every day, millions of tons of Waste Incineration Ash are disposed of in landfills posing a great potential to contaminate ground and surface water, air, and soil, these are examples of Waste Incineration Ash currently disposed of in landfills:

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Incineration Ash or Waste to Energy Incineration Ash,

Hazardous Waste Incineration Ash,

Medical Waste Incineration Ash,

Industrial Waste Incineration Ash,

Water Treatment Plant Sludge Incineration Ash,

Biomass Incineration Ash, etc

At Ashcrete Technologies we have developed the unique technology in the world to treat, transform and upcycle “ASH” into a beneficial composite material that can be used instead of concrete.

The resulting composite material or “Ashcrete” is a true Ecological concrete “Ecoconcrete” or Green concrete as waste in this case “Ash” is used instead of aggregate (sand and gravel).

Our Initiative pretends to upcycle Ash that has been disposed of in landfills as well as the fresh ash that is generated daily and transform these waste streams into beneficial structures (Roads, Bridges, Barriers, Extreme Weather Condition Structures, Marine Environments, etc.).

We have tested around the world, and with the input from Governments, Professors and scientists, we were able to develop our technology, so far:

In the USA the Environmental authority is the State Department of Environmental Protection and the permit is called a Beneficial Use Determination, we have talked with several municipalities, in New York, we have already applied for Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Ash Beneficial Use Determination -Status: Pending BUD Petition No. 1395-0-00.

In Canada, the permit is issued by the Ministry of Environment, and we are already working with Metro- Vancouver and the BC Ministry of Environment.

In Singapore, the National Environmental Agency is responsible for ash beneficial uses permits, we have presented a project for Ash and other wastes characterization at Semamkau landfill

This video will give you an idea of what needs to be done, this case example is the Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Ash Monofill located in Babylon, Long Island – New York, USA, which is about to reach full capacity.

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Incineration Bottom Ash and Combined Ash transformation.

At Ashcrete Technologies we have developed the unique technology in the world that transforms Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Incineration Bottom Ash and Combined Ash (MSW Bottom Ash + MSW Fly Ash) into a composite material concrete-like that can be used to make Roads, Bridges, Barriers and Marine Structures turning this waste stream 100% sustainable contributing to a circular economy.

Ash transformation takes place at atomic level where ash ions get stimulated by nanocomposites allowing their absorption by the products generated during hydration reaction. The absorption can be divided into physical absorption and chemical absorption. Physical absorption is caused by van Der Waals forces between particles, while chemical absorption is the result of chemical bond formation.

Ashcrete is a true green concrete made with 100% Waste Materials (MSW Incineration Ash), the dense matrix prevents deleterious solutions from penetrating into the matrix, so the mechanisms that can cause conventional concrete to deteriorate are not present, consequently, durability properties, as measured by permeability tests, freeze-thaw tests, scaling tests, abrasion tests, resistance to ASR, and carbonation, are significantly better than those of conventional concrete.

Ashcrete Appearance

Ash Ion Migration

The below table shows the migration of elements, in yellow raw ash elements, in green XRF elemental analysis of Ashcrete (Composite concrete-like material made with MSW I. Ash).