A sustainable solution for 17 million containers of agrochemicals: convert them into fuel

A sustainable solution for 17 million containers of agrochemicals: convert them into fuel https://i1.wp.com/www.eresviral.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Una-solución-sustentable-para-17-millones-de-envases-de-agroquímicos-convertirlos-en-combustible.jpg?fit=260%2C146&ssl=1

A sustainable solution for 17 million containers of agrochemicals: convert them into fuel





A sustainable solution for 17 million containers of agrochemicals: convert them into fuel


The plastic containers of agricultural chemicals are a residue of difficult treatment. According to the Ministry of Agribusiness, around 17 million empty drums are generated annually in Argentina, which implies 13 thousand tons of plastic. 60% corresponds to 20 liter containers. Those that are not dispersed in the field, forming true "dunes" with toxic remains and without possible degradation, are usually burned and buried, or illegally traded. Currently, its most usual use is washing in treatment centers according to the IRAM 12.069 standard for reuse.



A group of scientists from the National University of the South (UNS) and the Chemical Engineering Pilot Plant (Plapiqui, UNS-CONICET) build a reactor to convert these containers into liquid fuels and other byproducts. This process is applied in other countries, and even in Argentina; Engineer Jacobacci generates fuel for "La Trochita", the Patagonian train.



The initiative obtained subsidies from the Secretariat of University Policies in the line "Universities Adding Value" in two opportunities, with a total amount of 298 thousand pesos. "Based on previous studies carried out in the Chemical Technology area of ​​Plapiqui, we propose to build a reactor near the recycling plant of Route 3 km. 535, where a waste collection center works, "explained doctors Mara Volpe and Victoria Gutiérrez, teachers from the Department of Chemistry and researchers from Plapiqui. This plant accumulates empty drums of phytosanitary and other waste that accumulate in the rural area.



"This began when we approached the municipality of Coronel Dorrego seeing how we could adapt tests that we did in laboratory scale to solve a big problem: the plastic waste that is accumulated by the empty containers of agrochemicals, which are drums of 2 to 2 20 liters ", they detail. "They are voluminous, and there is no practical and feasible legislation that allows them to be recycled directly, and there is no definitive solution for their final disposal. Then, we began to think about how to reconvert it into something that has value ", explained Volpe and Gutiérrez, interviewed by AM 1240 Radio Universidad. With a technology, which they have been testing since 2009, they began to try to convert this waste into a liquid fuel.







(Photo: Argentina Investigates)



Law 27,279, promulgated in 2016 and regulated in 2018, establishes the minimum environmental protection budgets for the management of empty phytosanitary containers, due to the toxicity of the product they contained, requiring a differentiated and conditioned management. The law prohibits "any action involving abandonment, dumping, burning and / or burying of empty phytosanitary containers throughout the national territory, in the same way as the marketing and / or delivery of containers to natural or legal persons outside the authorized system "



"We plan to turn them into non-toxic products: waxes, coals and combustible liquids. A similar development has been carried out at Ingeniero Jacobacci (Río Negro), where from plastics they produce liquid fuels used by the La Trochita tourist train, "they say.



Volpe details that it is a pyrolysis process that transforms plastics into a reactor that is at a high temperature. "Vapor flows from the reactor that condense to obtain a liquid, which has properties to be used as fuel. A gas and a carbonaceous solid are also produced that also have an energetic value. We are currently analyzing the properties of these products to determine what the specific energy applications would be, "he adds. It could be boilers, formulations of fuel blends for transport or combustion for electric generation, among others.



The combustible liquids will be used by several dependencies of the commune, or destined to boilers and similar equipment. "They are in charge of finding you a market," says Gutiérrez. "The project solves an environmental problem by converting waste into a fuel with economic value, generating employment and local development in a municipality," the researcher adds.



The initiative involves consolidated researchers, younger scientists and students. "We are interested in all aspects: the social, the economic, the technological, the productive" says Volpe. That is why experts in economics also take part in the group, in matters of mechanical engineering for the assembly of the equipment, among others. Thus, they seek an approximation - and a solution - integral to this problem.



"The idea is not only to get rid of the annoying waste, but also to find an economically viable and environmentally sustainable solution," says Gutiérrez. "From every point of view we are turning a waste into something valuable. This process not only works in other countries, but the case of La Trochita shows us that it can be viable in our environment as well, "he adds.



"With the transformation of these plastics we not only obtain a combustible liquid but also a solid by-product with diverse properties", adds Volpe. "We have asked for other subsidies to advance in 'windows' of this project, as well as in others that propose recovering sunflower husks. With this same technology, by applying pyrolysis processes we can transform these shells into coals with very good characteristics, which have already interested steel manufacturing companies such as Tenaris ".



"Universities adding value" is a program of the Secretariat of University Policies of the Ministry of Education that allocates funding to universities to implement technological linkage projects in provincial and national universities that provide solutions to the problems of the national socio-productive fabric. In the last call, 12 projects of the UNS were selected, which will receive funds totaling close to 1.8 million pesos. (Source: Argentina Investiga)

        .

  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)

  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?

  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};

  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';

  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;

  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];

  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',

  'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');

  fbq('init', '369524843414444');

  fbq('track', 'PageView');

    .


SOURCE LINK ERESVIRAL.COM 
https://www.beviral.online