Sydney is the departure point of the world's first flight
using a fuel made from “end of life” plastic. Later this year British pilot
Jeremy Rowsell plans to fly back home from Australia in a single engine Cessna,
which normally runs on diesel, according to a report by Business Green.
The experimental fuel used during the journey is made by
melting plastic waste in an oxygen-free environment; a process known as
pyrolysis. The distillate can be separated different fuels, such as gasoline,
diesel and kerosene, which have low sulfur and high cetane qualities.
It is being produced by an Irish company Cynar Plc, which believes that with the
quantity of waste plastic available, there is a ready market for its “End of
Life Plastic to Diesel” (ELPD) process. It points out that US dumps 26 million
tonnes of plastics into landfill each year and Europe throws away another 15
million tonnes.
The company claims that at the present level of development
its process can produce up to 19,000 liters of fuel from 20 tonnes of waste,
with the balance of material being turned into carbon char.
Cynar is actively seeking partners with experience in the
waste and fuel industries to work together in rapidly commercializing it
technology.
The first full scale ELPD is operating in Ireland and Cynar
a £70m (USD111 million) contract with SITA/SuezEnvironment to build 10 more, the first of which has received planning
permission in the UK.