Maoliang Zhao
St. John's University
Charles Wankel
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Waste Technologies LLC acknowledges that the planet is in crisis. Waste plastic is building up in massive proportions that would take hundreds, if not thousands, of years to decompose. The company has come up with a simple, patented way to produce a low-cost low–sulfur diesel, biofuel, and jet fuel out of said plastic waste.
From waste to efficiency, WTL has a mission:
"To provide an economically and easily assembled viable solution to the problem of waste plastics."
This technology can produce approximately 1.30 liter of “WTL fuel” from one kilogram of plastic waste (density = mass/volume = 0.77 g/l.) The exact yield depends on the type of plastic, and the grade of WTL fuel desired.
WTL fuel products can be used for diverse applications such as electrical generation, transportation, home heating, and cooking. They can also be routed to fuel WTL’s mechanism itself. The exact yield depends on the type of plastic and the grade of WTL fuel desired. The conversion unit can also be calibrated to produce high-quality fuel with no further distillation necessary. Typically, the process produces no emissions and only a residue of less than 2%, which is commercially desirable.
Dr. Moinuddin Sarker has seen what the world is becoming. The living standard of many countries, such as his much-loved Bangladesh, is that of complete squalor. The long-term environmental effects are well documented, and human dignity has degraded to such a point that many live in mountains of rubbish and rubble.
How can we starve off environmental collapse? How do we do this and still use the fuel we need to maintain industry and humanity as a whole? How can we get rid of these mountains of waste and help people live happy and healthy lives? These are questions many of the world’s greatest economists seek to answer. Dr. Moinuddin Sarker has found a solution: “WTL – Converting Waste Plastic to Fuel.”
Annually, of the 80 billion pounds of plastics produced in the United States, only about 6% or 4.8 billion pounds are recycled. For all the talk of plastic banning, plastic production is increasing.
In addition, there currently exists a world-wide crisis because of waste plastic. Almost 7 billion tons of waste plastic have been produced and would add up to more than Mountain Everest. Despite such a mass, only 9% is recycled into other plastic products and 12% incinerated. The other 79% pollutes our environment and negatively affects our health.
Countries such as China that once accepted this waste now refuse to do so. Every year, we produce 300 million tons of new plastic waste with 85% of it mismanaged. Even with the call for the limiting of plastics, the production volume of new plastics is only increasing. It is estimated that if nothing is done, 13.2 Billion tons of waste plastic will be filling our landfills, clogging our oceans, and leaking chemicals back into the environment and into our bodies by 2050.
WTL Has two concretely planned revenue streams: licensing of technology, and turnkeys. Licensing of the technology territories would cost 10 cents per capita depending on the size of the geographic area, population size, and the waste plastic streams. Turnkeys are manufactured and include the sale of equipment along with consulting, operational maintenance, and servicing package. They would cost $20-50 million depending on the size of the plant. Along with these two revenue streams, WTL sells software and training at $2-$10 million per plant or per territory, depending on the size and number of plants. They also consider fuel royalty of $5 per barrel, which is monitored remotely. Since the business took efforts to concretely plan the revenue streams, they have capitalized in a more efficient manner.
Waste Technologies LLC benefits society by turning waste to fuel so we can keep and live in a cleaner and more efficient environment. Their process is completed mechanically, using physical characteristics of the MSW as size, density, and magnetic properties. After separating these properties, they reduce the size of organic and plastic waste through pulverization and end up selling the rest of the scraps to the firms. From this organic waste, WTL produces fertilizer and biogas. From plastic waste, they produce diesel, aviation fuel, and LPG, all of which benefit society. WTL also collaborates with universities for technical and internship support for such plants. This provides a sense of the real-world application of what they work on and presents those actions as a guiding example to students.
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Waste Technologies LLC is a waste management, research, development, and equipment manufacturing company. They develop innovative and unique technology to help produce alternative hydrocarbon liquid fuel from nearly every type of solid waste plastic with international patent rights. They have been working on their technology for the past 15 years.
