Turning scrap cars into fuel
When a car is recycled, the process typically involves the shredding of a vehicle and then recovering the reusable steel pieces. In addition to steel, cars are obviously made up of a number of other materials, which are shredded with the rest of the car.
These waste materials are called automotive shredder residue (ASR). ASR is typically made up of plastics, rubber, wood, paper, fabrics, glass, sand and dirt as well as tiny pieces of metal that escape the normal sorting process. For any given ton of steel that is recovered from scrap cars, between 317 and 360 kg of ASR is generated. This material has usually been disposed of in landfills due to its perceived lack of value.
Things are set to change in future, thanks to the Hawk 10 recycling machine from New Jersey’s Global Resource Corporation. The Hawk 10 is able to reduce landfill waste by as much as 65% by employing microwave frequencies to convert “autofluff” - textiles, foams, plastics, rubber, and light metal content extracted from cars - into oil and gas. The gas is then fed back into the machine to fuel the next batch of recycling without emitting any waste emissions. This closed-loop system virtually elimates the need for external power to drive the Hawk 10.
Sounds like a pretty neat invention - a machine that can recycle previously unrecyclable materials, while making virtually no pollution in the process. Let’s hope the Hawk 10 makes its way to South Africa.
Source: GreenBiz
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