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Aussie innovation turns waste into energy 'gold'

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06 Mar, 2024

This post was originally published on Sustainability Matters

The Australian-made innovation uses high temperatures without oxygen to make a carbon-rich product called biochar, which can be used in carbon electrodes for batteries and other advanced energy storage devices, or can act as a fertiliser or soil amendment.

The pyrolysis technology, known as PYROCO, thermally processes materials from waste streams, including treated sewage (biosolids) and food and garden organic materials destined for landfill, to remove pathogens, PFAS and microplastics, which can cause harm to humans and the environment. RMIT has filed patent applications to protect the technology that the team has developed.

Project lead Professor Kalpit Shah, from RMIT University, said the technology could help make the management of biosolids and other waste more environmentally sustainable and cost-effective.

“Around 30% of the world’s biosolids are either stockpiled or sent to landfill, which is a big challenge that PYROCO aims to address,” said Shah, Deputy Director (Academic) of the ARC Training Centre for Transformation of Australia’s Biosolids Resource.

RMIT and project partners South East Water, Intelligent Water Networks (IWN) and Greater Western Water have just completed the latest series of trials of the technology at the Melton Recycled Water Plant.

“The latest trials validated results of the first trials and showed further improvements,” Shah said.

During the first trials in 2021, the PYROCO demonstration unit turned biosolids into biochar and removed all pathogens, PFAS and microplastics.

The latest trials for PYROCO Mark 2 went further by using materials from other waste streams, and demonstrated enhanced safety features and automation.

“The Mark 2 unit processed food and garden organic waste as well as canola straw co-mingled with biosolids to create biochar,” Shah said.

“The trials we’ve just completed are an exciting step towards scaling up this innovative pyrolysis technology to prove the findings and operationalise it — this represents a real step-change in the field.”

The PYROCO Mark 2 pilot unit at Melton Water Recycling Plant. Image credit: Seamus Daniel

Following the latest trials, the partners are now progressing towards commercialisation.

South East Water General Manager Research, Innovation and Commercialisation Daniel Sullivan said the project could potentially address the water industry’s challenge of biosolids disposal, while also removing carbon from the atmosphere.

“We believe that this exciting technology has the potential to transform by-products of the wastewater process into a valuable resource, in a way that is the most carbon-efficient while maximising the quality of the biochar,” he said.

The Deputy Director (Industry) of the ARC Training Centre for Transformation of Australia’s Biosolids Resource, Dr Aravind Surapaneni, said the technology could help achieve progress towards Victoria’s net-zero carbon pledge.

“The European Union has highlighted the potential of biochar in breaking the carbon cycle, and we see this technology as an opportunity for the water industry to support the Victorian Government’s path to net-zero emissions by 2045.”

The Victorian Government, through the Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action (DEECA), contributed $100,000 to the $1 million project. RMIT University, South East Water, IWN, Greater Western Water, Barwon Water, Westernport Water and East Gippsland Water co-funded the remainder of the project.

The PYROCO Mark 2 pilot unit was commissioned and installed at the Melton Water Recycling Plant. It was built using the funding received from Victorian Higher Education State Investment Fund (VHESIF).

Top image credit: Seamus Daniel

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ABB receives EPD status for gearless mill drive ring motor

ABB receives EPD status for gearless mill drive ring motor

ABB has gained Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) status for its Gearless Mill Drive (GMD) ring motor — technology used to drive large grinding mills in the mining industry.

An EPD is a standardised document that provides detailed information about the environmental impact of a product throughout its life cycle. Based on a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study, the EPD highlights ABB’s commitment to transparency, environmental responsibility and supporting customers in making informed decisions on sustainability in their supply chains.

ABB analysed the environmental impact of a ring motor across its entire life cycle from supply chain and production to usage and end-of-life disposal. The study was conducted for a ring motor of a semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill with an installed power of 24 MW and was based on a reference service life of 25 years.

“Sustainability is at the core of our purpose at ABB, influencing how we operate and innovate for customers,” said Andrea Quinta, Sustainability Specialist at ABB. “By earning the Environmental Product Declaration for our ring motor, we emphasise our environmental stewardship and industry leadership for this technology. We adhered to the highest standards throughout this process, as we do in the ABB Ring Motor factory every day. This recognition highlights to the mining industry what they are bringing into their own operations when they work with ABB.”

The comprehensive LCA was conducted at ABB’s factory in Bilbao, Spain, and was externally verified and published in accordance with international standards ISO 14025 and ISO 14040/14044. It will remain valid for five years.

The ring motor, a key component of the GMD, is a drive system without any gears where the transmission of the torque between the motor and the mill is done through the magnetic field in the air gap between the motor stator and the motor rotor. It optimises grinding applications in the minerals and mining industries by enabling variable-speed operation, leading to energy and cost savings.

The full EPD for the ABB GMD Ring Motor can be viewed on EPD International.

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